His Majesty
by Viceroy Elf
Summary: In a tale of love, life, and adventure, Finn the human will encounter one of the biggest clues of the most mysterious creature in all of Ooo; the human. Updates every other day. The pairing is FinnFire, but the story doesn't focus fully on that.
1. Chapter 1

**So, here it is. Man, this took me way longer than it should have, but I got it done. For new readers, understand that I began writing this before season four even started, so a few things might be off-canon. I hope you can enjoy it despite a few continuity errors. I don't own Adventure Time.**

Chapter I

All was peaceful in the candy kingdom; the denizens bustling through the sugar coated streets, on their way to perform their daily activities. Atop her tower, Princess Bubblegum sat in a meditative position on her yoga mat, looking down at her kingdom. Yes, it truly was a paradise.

Unfortunately for her, the tranquil state of the kingdom would not last much longer, as in the streets, a mysterious cloaked figure dropped something as it passed by the castle entrance. No one noticed him drop it, nor did they see whatever he had dropped scurry into the castle. The figure applauded the subtlety in his task, as well as that in his rodent-like companion's, but decided that stealth and subtlety wouldn't be enough for the mission at hand.

In an instant, his cloak flew from his form, revealing a young man, seemingly in his late adolescent years, with long hair colored red, yet tinted so dark one would at first consider it black, with the points of long ears peeking out from the sides. He wore a white shirt under a black overcoat, the cuffs of the shirt rolled over the ends of the coat sleeves. He wore dark black slacks that were slightly too long and bunched up at his ankle and heeled shoes made of brown leather that pointed at the toe. On his head he wore a wizard's stocking cap, part of the brim folded and pinned to the crown of the hat with a button that was black with a white question mark on it. From his coat he drew a long wooden staff, slightly longer than he was tall, and much too long to be able to fit inside his jacket, that ended in a green orb; the wood seeming to have grown around the orb, swirling into question mark shapes around it. On the bridge of his nose rest a small pair of black sunglasses, that obscured the bottom half of his eyes.

"Candy Kingdom, hear me!" he bellowed, gathering the attention of the candy people. He flew into the air as if being dragged by his staff and continued speaking. "Watch this!" he shouted, as many fireworks erupted from his staff in a beautiful display of lights.

Though the candy people found the display amusing, princess bubblegum clearly saw through the magician's ruse. "Candy Golems! Remove him!" she commanded. On que, the bubblegum towers turned and reached out to grab the wizard. Predicting this, he flew out of their grip and blasted their hands with blue energy, freezing them together. The golems fought to get their hands free from one another, and while watching the amusing display, shot another ray of energy at the ice, causing the golems to fall backward from their own weight, helpless to get back up.

Basking in hubris, the wizard floated himself up to the princess as she sat perched on her balcony. "Come now, Bonnibell, you should know that won't work on me." he said.

Princess Bubblegum smirked "I'm aware of this, and you'll be less than happy to know that in light of recent events, I've made a few improvements to the royal guards of the candy kingdom."

"You think your brigade of candy-clad marshmallows can do anything to me?"

"Like I said, I've made improvements to the new guards." Princess Bubblegum pressed a button on her wall. In an instant, panels on the castle opened, and out flew taffy-men with molded wings and sharpened candy-canes. The magician released a torrent of fire, but flew off as he found that whatever Bonnibell had done to them made them fireproof. He heard her yelling from her balcony. "You're not going to like these guards! They're sugar-free!"

_Clever Girl_ he thought as he flew to the ground. Though flying to ground level proved to be not the best idea, as large rock candy golems littered the surface. One knocked his staff from his hand, while another picked him up, binding his arms.

"I'm sure you would like to think you've got me." he said. The lack of reply from the golems confirmed his assumption that the beings were non-sentient. With a flick of the wrist, his staff returned to his hand, where it was used to blast each of the poly-colored golems with magic energy. Flying into the air, the magician looked down upon the candy kingdom, and taking notice of all of the new guards, it suddenly became clear to him just how long he would have to be there.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter II

"C'mon Princess!" Finn taunted, only to later dodge an on-coming fire ball.

"I'll get you!" The orange-skinned princess shouted playfully.

In the few weeks since Finn and the Flame Princess's encounter at the fire kingdom, Flame Princess, who had recently revealed her name to be Saffron, had grown accustomed to occaisionaly sneaking out of the fire Kingdom, with the soul intention of seeing Finn.

When Finn had suggested she throw fireballs at him, she was a little hesitant. However, after Finn displayed his dodging ability, she was not only reassured that he would not be hurt, but she started being a little more aggressive in throwing them at him. Despite this, it seemed she just couldn't hit him. "Ugh I give up!" she admitted. She diminished the small fire that had developed behind Finn, and fell on her back into the lush turf. Finn walked up to her and lied down next to her. It was this time that they cherished, where they could just lay in grass, content to be in each other's company. Saffron turned to look at Finn. He had removed his hat, a rarity itself, and his neck-length blonde hair hung freely. The sight made her blush slightly. In the time she had spent with him, Saffron had become well aware of Finn's crush on her and while the feeling was mutual, she was worried she might hurt him if they got too close. Part of her still believed herself to be evil, and didn't want to put Finn in any danger. But now was not the time for such thoughts. No, now was the time to simply bask in the sunshine on a beautiful day.

"Y'know, Saff, I can't think of anything I'd rather be doing right now." Finn said.

Saffron smiled at the use of the nickname Finn had for her. "Yeah, this is pretty great. It's a shame your dog couldn't join us."

"Jake's got girlfriend stuff. You know how it goes." "Right. You said he was involved with a rainicorn, yes?"

"Yeah."

"Do you ever wonder how exactly things work between them?"

Finn's face grew pale. "No. No I do not." he said.

The two stared at each other for a few moments before breaking into a light laughter, and resumed their quiet basking.

"You know Saffy, I think you've gotten a lot better at controlling your powers." Finn commented.

Saffron blushed and without thinking, she inched closer to fin until she was hugging him. Finn blushed furiously, feeling the incredible warmth of the fiery princess's touch. It was at about that same moment the Saffron had realized what she had done. Though both incredibly flustered, they couldn't help but think 'why ruin it?'

Soon they relaxed into this position, lying next to one another in total bliss.

Which would unfortunately last only a moment longer as a sharp ring could be heard from inside the tree house. With some regret, Finn Got up from the grass and walked toward his home. From the front door came a panicked B-mo.

"Finn! Finn!" he shrieked.

"What is it B-mo?"

"Urgent call from Princess Bubblegum!" B-mo's monitor switched from its normal two-dimensional face into a video screen with Princess Bubblegum's face, clearly panicked by something.

"Finn! Trouble! Get your butt down here!" The screen went to static for a moment before switching back to B-mo's face.

"Finn? What's going on?" Saffron asked from behind him.

He turned to reveal an urgent look on his face. "Gotta save a kingdom!" Then he smiled. "Wanna come?" he asked giddily.

Saffron thought for a moment. She shrugged "Why not?"

Finn ran off in the direction of the candy kingdom, only to be soon lifted off the ground as Saffron grabbed him by the arms.

"Where're we headed?" she asked. Finn pointed with his free hand in the direction of the candy Kingdom.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter III

The scattered body-parts of Princess Bubblegum's guards littered the streets of the candy kingdom. The Magician stood on his staff as it float in the air. He shot Princess Bubblegum an indignant look before speaking.

"Is that all that's left Bonnibell?" he asked.

"I'm not wasting anymore of my guards on you, Rigid!"

"Oh come now, I was only just starting to have fun!" This was not good. He needed to keep the princess distracted for a few more minutes.

"Are you sure you have nothing more for me to fight?" he asked.

"I said I wouldn't waste any more of my guards. I never said there wasn't anything coming to fight you."

With that, princess Bubblegum pointed behind the magical being known as Rigid. He turned around only to collide with what seemed to be a flying boy. Losing grip on his staff, he was separated from it, and was plummeting t the ground. The boy delivered a kick to Rigid's chest, separating them. Rigid looked in awe as he saw the boy be caught and carried to the ground from a glowing orange girl. Regaining his composure, Rigid's staff flew back to his hand, saving him from a painful plummet. He flew up to Princess Bubblegum's balcony.

"Is that your knight that I've heard so much about?!" he asked.

"Yes; he's an elf like you, so you know what you're in store for!"

Rigid looked down at the blonde haired boy and smirked. "Must be but a lamb. His ears haven't even grown yet." With that, he flew to the surface.

Finn and Saffron flew to the ground. Before reaching the ground, Finn swears he heard Princess Bubblegum refer to him as an elf. He didn't understand, but assumed the princess had a good reason for saying this.

Rigid floated down to Finn and Saffron's level. "So, you're the brave knight that's going to defeat me?" he asked indignantly.

"With some help." he replied.

Finn drew his demon-blood sword and charged furiously at Rigid. Just in time Rigid blocked his swipe with his staff, and continued to do so as Finn delivered slash after slash. He shot a blast at Finn's feet, only to have Finn flip over him and kick him in the back. Stumbling forward, Rigid regained his balance, and shot a blast of magical energy at Finn that hit him in the chest.

Taking a moment of hubris, Rigid failed to notice Saffron charging toward him until it was too late, and he suffered a scorching double-barrel kick to the chest. Flying and crashing into a nearby building, Rigid looked to see Finn and Saffron both charging at him. His entire body turned golden-orange and he phased through the ground just as they reached him. He reappeared behind them and cast a spell at their feet that made thick vines grow from the ground and entangle them.

Finn found he was unable to cut himself free, but Saffron easily burned through her vines. She charged at Rigid full speed. Once again, Rigid phased through the ground, and she soared passed him. Reappearing, he released a torrent of water at the fiery girl, extinguishing her fire and making her scream in agony.

Seeing what the magician had just done, Finn became more furious than he ever had before. He searched for reserves of strength he didn't even know he had, and managed to tear the vines the bound him apart. He charged at Rigid, sword pointed.

Rigid, however, did not try to phase again, knowing the consequences of overdoing a spell like that. He dodged the sword point, only to have Finn's shoe meet with his head.

Finn would not allow Rigid a chance to recover. He clonked him over the head with the flat part of his sword, further disorienting him, and sent him flying with a powerful spin-kick. Rigid only barely registered what was happening, knowing only that his head was killing him. He looked at Finn marching towards him, worried for what the boy might do to him.

It was about that time that a rodent like creature immerged from the candy-castle, and ran up to Rigid. It was a pure black creature, with no texture to suggest fur or scales or any kind of skin, almost like it was made of glass. It's large round eyes were bright yellow with no pupils. It stood on Rigid's chest waving one its arms.

"Is it ready?" he asked, to which the creature nodded. "Sorry kiddies, but my work here is done." And with that, his staff carried him and his pet into the air and off into the distance.

Finn watched him as he hastily fled the city, and as much he'd like to have chased after him, he got the feeling that not being able to fly might hinder his chances of keeping up with the magical being. Besides, he had more urgent matters to attend to.

Princess Bubblegum hurriedly ran down from her tower to greet Finn and thank him for defending the city. As she exited the building, she noticed Finn running towards her. She also approached him, expecting him to hug her, blush, and awkwardly pull away, as he normally did. She always did love to see him get embarrassed. But, her gaze went wide as he ran right past her, not even acknowledging her existence, and continued to run towards the tower. She turned to find him comforting the orange girl that had accompanied him to the candy kingdom, and assisted in fighting Rigid.

"Are you alright, Saffy?" Finn asked, worry evident in his voice.

Saffron shook her head as she sat up. "Yeah, I'm good Finn. Man, If I ever see that elf again, I'm gonna.."

"Ehem." Finn and Saffron looked back upon hearing Princess Bubblegum make her presence known.

"Oh, hey PB." Finn greeted her as if only just now noticing her.

"It's nice to see you, Finn. I would like to thank you and your friend here for saving my city." Princess Bubblegum gave Saffron a look that almost made her feel uncomfortable.

Finn, completely oblivious to the tension between Saffron and Princess Bubblegum, continued the conversation as normally. "No problem. Princess Bubblegum, this is Saffron, Princess of the Fire Kingdom. Saffron, this is a very good friend of mine, Princess Bubblegum."

Saffron paused for a moment before remembering herself , and politely curtsied. "It's nice to meet you." She said.

Princess Bubblegum seemed to also have been taken aback by the introduction of this new person. She blinked a few times before curtsying herself.

"So who was that guy, Peebles?" asked Finn. Princess Bubblegum grimaced.

"That was just Rigid. He likes to come here every once in a while to cause a ruckus and get me mad. Oh well, at least he gave me a chance to test out my new guards." She said.

"He was pretty weird wasn't he? Like, what was that rat-looking thing he had?" Finn asked, laughing slightly.

The Princess's face grew dim. "What?" she asked with urgency.

"Yeah, some weird little rat thing that looked like it was made of smoke or some crud ran up to him after I wiped the floor with him." "Oh no!" she said before running into the kingdom. Finn and Saffron followed; the latter of which going a bit reluctantly. Princess Bubblegum ran through her castle telling any servants she ran into to check all the storage rooms before her fatigue became too much for her and she sat down on a nearby sofa. "What is it PB?" asked Finn. "If Rigid brought his shadow rat, that means-" Princess Bubblegum was interrupted as one of her servants approached her. "M'lady! Almost a fourth of the Root Beer cellar is gone!" another approached equally worried. "Princess! We've lost 400 pounds of chocolate from storage." One by one, servants came to the Princess explaining that certain supplies had been stolen. Princess stood from her sofa and threw her hands into the air. "RIGIIIIIIID!" she shouted. "What's up Princess?" Finn asked. "He did it again." She mumbled angrily. "What?" "He made a spectacle in the city while his Rat stole an entire years worth of candy from me!" "How clever." Remarked Saffron. Princess Bubblegum turned to her. "Clever?" she said. "Oh yes. Let's exemplify this crook on account of how intelligent his plan was. Forget that he's stolen valuable resources from me, 'cause it was just so well executed!" she got in Saffron's face as she spoke. Saffron backed up a little and retaliated. "Don't be angry with me, I was just saying, it was a very good ploy. Distract the city while a small critter could make off with the supplies." Saffron and Bubblegum were practically at each other's throats. At that time, Finn got between them, partially because he had questions, but mostly because he didn't want the two Princesses to get into a fight. "So, uh, how did that little rat thing get all of that stuff out of here?" he asked nervously. The princesses withdrew from each other, though still glaring at each other, and Bubblegum began to speak.

"Rigid's rat Charlie is a shadow-rat. They can make portals to other parts of Oooh. The size and distance depends on how much time they are given to make the portal. Last time Rigid just broke in and let the rat do everything while he fought in the kingdom. He must've used the lightshow as a distraction. I can't believe I'd forgotten about his little pet." She walked from the room to the stairs leading to her balcony. "But what I don't understand is why." She said.

"What do you mean?" Finn asked.

"He's known for going around several kingdoms and stealing large amounts of supplies. But that's all he steals; food, reagents, books; never money or anything of great value. And he only rarely does this sort of thing. In fact, the last time he did this, you and I hadn't even met yet. But I must wonder, what's he doing with all of it?" she asked herself.

Reaching her balcony, she leaned over the railing, thinking.

As Finn and Saffron caught up with her, Finn remembered that he had another question to ask.

"Hey princess, I heard you tell that guy that I was an elf. What was that about?" he asked.

Bubblegum looked up. "Oh, you heard that? Well, you know you're the last of your kind."

"As far as I know yeah."

"I've started telling people that you were an elf since I know rainicorns eat humans, and some people out there might want to hunt you." A sly grin appeared on the princess' face as she took this opportunity to get a hug out of Finn that he didn't get when he first arrive. "I just don't want you getting hurt." She said, taking a small glance at Saffron, who didn't look particularly comfortable with this.

Finn simply hugged back, seeing the act as casual and friendly. "Don't worry princess, I'll be fine." He said, drawing away from the hug. "And, I'm gonna find this Rigid guy and get your stuff back." He announced with enthusiasm.

"Oh Finn, it's really not necessary."

Finn waved a hand to silence the Princess. "Too late, Peebles. Once I set my mind to something, I get it done."

He turned to Saffron, who was blushing lightly for reasons Finn did not know. "You in, Saff?"

She stood for a moment before shaking her head as if snapping out of a trance. "Umm, I really want to Finn, but I really should be getting back to my father." She said apologetically, at which Finn's expression turned dejected.

"Really? Bummer."

"I know. It's okay, we can hang out tomorrow and you can tell me how it went." She prepared to fly away, but decided to do something a little bold before going. She pulled Finn in for an abundantly warm kiss on his cheek that left a red mark on the side of his face; a mark that was quickly covered by the fact that Finn's blushing was brighter than the actual mark.

As she flew away, though she was blushing equally as bright, there was little she could do to cover up the arrogant smirk on her face.

Meanwhile, Finn was still blushing as he watched her in awe, and Princess Bubblegum could only stare daggers at her as she fled.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter IV

Finn rubbed his cheek where the Flame Princess had just kissed him. _Just like when we first met. _He thought. Shaking himself out of his little trance he looked back to Princess Bubblegum.

"S-so. uh, Princess, where exactly does this Rigid guy live?" Finn asked through a flustered expression.

Princess Bubblegum glared at the sky for a moment before turning to Finn with a downhearted expression. "I don't know, Finn."She began. "He supposedly lives in a forest that exists underground, but I haven't the likeliest of ideas where it might be. Had I known, I'd have confronted him about his thieving long ago."

Though the Princess' tone was dower and sorrowful, Finn's expression was one of excitement and glee. "Say PB, do you think this place might be dangerous?" he asked.

Princess Bubblegum's eyes grew wide. "Finn, I know what you're thinking. I don't thi-"

"Too late Peebles! I'm gonna find this guy, brave his forest, and get the low-down on what he's doing with your junk!"

"Finn, that's really not necessa-", Princess Bubblegum tried to reason with Finn, but he had already made up his mind, and had darted down the stairs before she could get another word in.

Princess Bubblegum looked on as she saw Finn exit her fair city, and though she normally would've cracked a bashful smirk at her hero's exuberance, her face only grew dimmer. _Is it true?_ She thought. _Has Finn forgotten me so easily for that __**other **__princess? _She was so terribly conflicted by this.

She had thought she was over Finn after she had turned eighteen again. She hoped he would eventually forget about her so she could rule her kingdom without her affections or his distracting her. But now that it's happened, she could only think of how much she missed being thirteen with Finn.

Being young and playful, and being with the boy of her dreams. She had assumed that turning eighteen again would diminish such childish feelings, but it only did little to repress them. She would forever scorn that accursed Earl of Lemongrab. Feeling confused and sorrowful, she could only retreat to her lab to collect her thoughts.

Saffron couldn't help but feel mildly giddy as she flew home from the candy Kingdom. _If that Princess didn't get the message before, I'm sure she does now. _She realized that she was perhaps being a bit protective of Finn, especially since weren't actually involved, but she honestly didn't enjoy the idea of other girls flirting with him while he was so very clearly infatuated with her. Her actions might have been a bit bold, but she got the point across.

As she flew, she began noticing the signs that she was returning home; the red sky, volcanic rock replacing grass and soil, and of course, the Fiery denizens going about their business as peacefully as one could in the hectic nation that was the Fire Kingdom.

This saddened the Flame Princess.

She knew that all of the Fire Kingdom's citizens were afraid of her, as they should be considering her destructive nature.

But, she didn't enjoy being feared. She didn't enjoy being scary and destructive, but she just couldn't control her anger.

Finn once told her something. 'You're not evil, you're just passionate.'

That comforted her more than anything anyone else had said to her. With that pleasant thought, her trip home became slightly more enjoyable. Unfortunately, what she found upon reentering the castle was not nearly as enjoyable.

"D-daddy!" Yes, the Fire King, the Flame princess' father and evil monarch of the fire kingdom, sat in his throne before his daughter.

"Hello, daughter." He was clearly very unhappy. "The council meeting ended early today. When I found you absent from the castle, I asked the squire where you had gone. Imagine my surprise when he told me that you'd been leaving the castle on a regular basis, and assumed you were doing so under my orders." The King's anger grew more with every word. "Tell me daughter, where have you been heading off to these past few weeks?"

Flame Princess was worried. She was intimidated. But for whatever reason, she wasn't scared. She knew it was a bad idea, she knew it would probably get her killed, and she knew that it would substantially change her life. She was going to stand up to her father.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter V

Finn returned home feeling positively exuberant, and was totally ready to go on an adventure. And, as fate would have it, his best friend had returned home and, though he didn't know it yet, he too was about to have an epic journey to a perilous land from which he may not return. But until then, he would wait patiently for Finn to return home and tell him about it.

Speaking of which,

"Jake!" announced Finn as he burst through the door of his tree house.

Jake was currently in the kitchen enjoying a stacked sandwich that was much taller than he was, which of was no problem given Jake's powers.

"Comin' pal!" he called after downing the entire sandwich. "What's up?" he asks as he greets his human companion.

Finn's excitement could only be contained a moment longer, he grabbed his hat and adventure pack from the hanger. "Jake, I've got one question for you." He said, his back to Jake.

"What is it?"

Finn turns dramatically, the excitement visible in his expression. "What time is it?!"

Jake could only do so much but return the excitement.

"Adventure Time!"

With that, the two were out of the door in an instant, Jake growing in size with Finn on his back. "Where're we headed, pal!" asked Jake as he slowly trotted aimlessly. Finn took out the map and a compass from his pack. "I don't know, but I bet I know who does!" Finn announced.

"In the middle of the valley, in the mist green lush, the entire market was in an eerie hush. Except for one shop, still ready to go, for Choose Goose always has more things to show!" Choose Goose spoke to himself and perhaps whatever mysterious voices took refuge in his deluded mind.

Though the other shops in the outdoor market had closed, Choose Goose remained opened, possibly due to his unconquerable work ethic; possibly due to the fact that no one's ever explained to him the concept of a 'day off'.

Regardless of why he was opened, Finn and Jake were glad he was, as they needed something mysterious and likely to be the cause of some manner of mishap, and Choose Goose could always supply them with items of such a nature.

"You sure he's got what we need Finn? Choose Goose has weird stuff, but it'd be pretty coincidental for him to have a map to this Rigid guy's place." Jake said as they approached the stand.

"C'mon, man, Choose Goose always has what we need."

"Yeah, but the stuff we get always miraculously gets us into danger."

"I live for danger."

Jake got the feeling that Finn wasn't quite grasping the severity of their situation.

As the two reached the stand, Choose Goose jumped up with glee and landed on the counter of his stand. "Finn, Jake, my favorite customers!" he greeted them with glee.

"Hey Choose Goose, we need a map."

"A map for those with wander lust, why you might need one, know I must!" he pranced about the counter of his stand as best his noodley limbs could carry him.

"Well, we met this guy named Rigid-"

"You know Rigid, you say? Oh how swell! I know him very well! To get a map to his woods, you have a chance. But to get it I demand you dance!"

Choose Goose gave an expectant look, though one wouldn't be able to tell given his cock-eyed stare. Still, Finn and Jake got the message, and after swallowing their pride began to dance a jaunty jig as Choose Goose Applauded. "Hehehe! Here you are boys! As promised!" Choose Goose tossed them a rolled up a sheet of paper a dived back behind his stand. Finn turned to Jake with a smile.

"You ready bro?"

"Let's do it."

And with that, the two adventurers began their perilous journey to Rigid's supposed underground forest.

Following the map, they found that there location was very far to the north-east; going even passed the Deep Dark Bayou. They persevered however, and so arrived at their destination.

Or rather, what they hoped was their destination.

According to the map, they were supposed to be in the middle of Rigid's Woods, but in front of them was just a big hole.

"Maybe the map's wrong." Jake suggested.

Finn eyed the hole curiously, "PB said the place was underground. Maybe this hole leads to it."

"Well, I guess I'll just stretch us down. See where that takes us." Jake dug his feet into the ground and took Finn in his paunch, and slowly stretched their way down into the hole.

"So how are things goin' with the Flame Princess?" Jake asked coyly.

Blushing, Finn could barely muster a reply. "Y-you know, things are alright. She helped me fight at the candy kingdom and met Princess Bubblegum, so, you know, that was cool."

Jake's eyebrows rose at this, though it was too dark to see. "Oh, so you brought the new girl to your ex, huh? Classic."

Finn's brow furrowed. "It was nothing like that."

"Ohho! I bet Princess Bubblegum was red with jealousy!"

"Nah man. There was never anything between her and me, and there not really anything between me and Saffron. Besides, Princess Bubblegum's not the jealous type."

"Whatever you say, man." _Hehe,_ thought Jake _He doesn't even realize it._

Finn and Jake continued their descent into the chasm, surrounded in Darkness. Finn had time to reflect on what Jake had told him. _Princess Bubblegum __**was **__acting kinda weird. But, she wasn't jealous, was she? Nah, that's not like her. Besides, why would she be jealous? It's not like she ever __**really**__ liked me like that. But, I think Saffron was a little jealous. Man, what am I gonna do. _Finn wasn't exactly built for dealing with 'relationship problems' and he knew it. He made a note in his head to deal with this later so he could focus on the task at hand.

As their descent continued, the darkness that surrounded Finn and Jake grew. If there was a word for darker-than-pitch-black it would be used to describe what they were seeing. The dark was almost suffocating, but, just when they were about to decide they had enough, they saw a small spec of light in the distance. Jake stretched faster, heading towards the small spec of light. It grew in size as they got closer to it, and before they knew it, Finn and Jake were hanging out of a hole in what could only be described as a 'ceiling' in an underground hollow sphere, with trees growing from every possible angle, and a luminescent orb floating in the center.

"Whoa," Jake said.

"What's up? Asked Finn.

"I don't know, it's like, I'm not hanging down a hole, it's like I'm standing." He stumbled and managed to tip over and land on the supposed ceiling of the area. Finn fell out of Jake's paunch and, instead of falling straight downward; it seemed he was sitting upside down on the ceiling. He groaned and shook his head before getting a look at his surroundings.

"This is trippy man. It's like, gravity works different down here." said Finn as Jake pulled his bottom half down to the rest of him, returning to his normal size.

"So this guy, Rigid, he's down her somewhere?" he asked and Finn nodded. "Man, this place is huge, where do we start looking?"

"I dunno, I guess we just start walking until we run into something."

Finn began walking through the forest, and Jake soon followed. Looking around the two wondered what kind of terrible creatures they might run into. They would soon have an answer as they reached a marshy looking area.

"Should we try to go around it?" asked Finn.

"Nah, I'll just stretch us across."

"I don't know if that's safe Jake. We don't know how far this crud goes."

"All the more reason to not waste any time goin' around. Now hop on!" Once again, Jake's persuasiveness got the better of Finn, and he mounted Jake as he began to stretch their way through the swampy marsh.

"Keep your eyes peeled, Jake, I still don't like this place."

"I thought you 'lived for danger'"

"Yeah, but I don't really liked getting my buns kicked by something I wasn't prepared for."

"You worry too much, brother. You need to relaaaax" Jake made a point of using his _chill voice_.

Finn laughed lightly, "You're right Jake, what have I got to be worried about?"

It was about that time that the swamp started to bubble, and before either Finn or Jake knew it, a very large and **very **angry four-armed swamp beast surfaced from the water.

"AUGH!" They shrieked as the beast swung one of his mighty arms and sent the two flying, Finn getting separated from Jake.

Finn thankfully saved himself by stabbing his sword into a nearby tree.

"Jake!" he called, worried that his friend was hurt.

"I'm all good man!" Jake replied, pulling himself together (literally) from a tree he grabbed onto.

The four-armed beast was currently charging towards Jake, who could only jump in surprise to narrowly avoid the creature's claws.

"Finn! I think you've got something to be worried about now!"

Finn saw his friend jumping from tree to tree to get away from the monster, and decided to take action. Taking notice of a particularly flexible tree branch, he reared back on it, and released, sending him flying in the direction of the monster.

Jake looked at the monster as it drew nearer. He was about to jump to another tree, but smiled as he saw his friend rocketing toward the beast.

As Finn made contact with the beast, his momentum carried them into a crash landing into the murky waters. Finn punched the creature in the face, which unfortunately only led to angering the beast. It picked Finn up by the shirt with one of its arms, and was ready to destroy Finn with its three remaining ones. However, it would not get the chance, as he suffered powerful blow to the head from Jake's mallet hand that knocked it unconscious.

"That was sweet!" announced Finn.

"Man, this place is serious danger." Jake said, trying to make Finn understand just how much trouble they were in down here. Finn however, was far beyond the point of no return.

"Serious danger, means serious action." He said.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter VI

Jake was worried. Finn had the same look in his eyes he had when the gladiator king had him in frenzy. "Finn, we gotta be careful be careful, alright man?"

Finn nodded, though Jake was still a little worried.

From there, Jake made sure they were careful about their traveling. What few obstacles they encountered were easily side-stepped by Jake's powers, and any creatures that approached them were, for the most part docile, and when they did attack, the two heroes made a point of out-witting and escaping the beasts; Jake was mindful to not let Finn get carried away.

They didn't know how long they'd spent braving the thick forest, or where they lie within it. But, they did know they were exhausted.

"Man, when are we gonna get a rest?" Called an exhausted Finn to no one in particular.

"I'm sure if we keep going, we'll fine somewhere to camp." Jake explained, though he didn't really believe himself.

They continued through the forest, when suddenly Finn stopped ahead of Jake and shuddered.

"Dude, what is it?" asked Jake.

Finn pointed to the ground. It was riddled with what appeared to be disembodied feet.

With spider legs.

"F-Finn! What the heck are those things?!" Jake asked.

Finn, took a few steps back, and began to speak.

"I don't know, but I think I know where they came from." Finn drew his sword and readied for combat. Jake tried swatting away the spider-feet while Finn Kicked them away.

"Come out you creep! I know it's you!" he called.

"Finn! What are you talking about?" asked a confused Jake.

"You asked for it!" called a voice that seemed to come from nowhere.

Jake watched in awe as the spider-feet crawled to eachother and began to morph into a very familiar form. "MMMAGIC MAAAAAAAN!" announced the figure as figure works shot out from behind him, illuminating him.

"Ah crud! Not him!" yelled Jake.

"Well well! If it isn't my favorite hero and his dog! I hope you haven't gone and been cursed by another magician, I've been coming up with new ways to ruin your lives since our last encounter!" He called.

Finn was not going to let him turn him into a foot again. "You're not doing anything to us you creep!"

Finn charged at the Magic Man, who took no time to wait before shooting a blast of magic energy at Finn that would do who-knows-what to anything that touched it. Finn, however, was prepared for such an attack, and quite easily jumped over the projectile and landed in front of the Magic Man. He immediately started swinging his sword, attempting to dice the Magic man into pieces.

The Magic Man narrowly avoided the blade's edge and teleported behind Finn. Finn turned around to catch the Magic Man in the middle of performing some kind of spell, only to be wrapped up in one of Jake's enlarged Fists.

"Gotcha, ya weirdo!" He called as the Magic Man struggled to get free. Jake's grip wasn't tight enough, it seems, as the Magic Man got an arm free and waved his fingers right in front of Jake. Jake flinched and dropped the Magic Man seconds before turning into a pile of jam.

Wait, what?

"Jake!" Finn cried as Jake turned red and dissolves into a red, gelatinous mass of cherry jam, topped with his head in the same red, translucent texture.

"Aww, what the heck?! I hate Cherry flavor!" he called as looked over his new form.

"JAAAAAKE!" Finn yelled. "You are sick, dude!" he ran towards the Magic Man and double-barrel kicked the Magic Man in the chest, sending him flying into a tree. He ran toward the Magic Man to punch him, but his fist hit the tree through a gaping hole in the Magic Man's stomach. The Magic Man's body split in two and he walked around Finn before fusing back together. He turned around as Finn tried to charge towards him again, but with a wave of his hand, magic string shot from his hand and wrapped around Finn, binding him to the tree.

Finn gritted his teeth as the Magic man approached him.

"Now, what should I do to you?" The Magic Man thought out loud as Finn glared at him. "I know, let's see what's under your stupid hat!" The Magic Man declared.

At that moment, Finn's expression became blank, and his head hung low, as if a wire had snapped inside his head. The Magic Man removed Finn's cowl and threw it behind him.

"Ooh, what pretty hair. Maybe I should turn it into scorpion tails." The Magic Man continued to talk to himself.

"My hat. Is awesome." Finn mumbled something inaudible.

"What's that? You're going to have to speak up if I'm going to hear your cries of pain, you know!"

"My hat. Is awesome."

"I'm truly sorry, but I just ca-"

"MY HAT. IISS AAWESOOOME!" Finn's rage carried his voice for what could have been miles, and he forcefully broke through the magic bindings. He proceeded to start pulverizing a very astonished Magic Man, who was too aghast to even think of casting any spells.

Finn continued his vicious onslaught until Magic Man lie on the ground, a bruised and bloodied mess. Much to Finn's displeasure, he still had that stupid grin on his face. The Magic Man could barely register what was happening, but was mildly shocked at he saw that while he was on the ground. Finn had retrieved his sword, and was glaring down at him.

"Finn! Don't do anything you'll regret!" Jake cried, his juices absorbed by the soil. He was panicking because Finn was starting to lose control, and wasn't too keen on being stuck as a condiment for the rest of his life.

Finn heard Jake's cries and snapped out of his state of blind fury. He held his sword point in front of the Magic Man's face. "Turn Jake back. Or else."

The Magic Mann grinned wider and snapped his fingers, and in an instant, turned into the disgusting spider-feet swarm that he had been when Finn and Jake first encountered him.

Finn jumped up in surprise and The Magic Man rematerialized into his normal form.

"You should have killed me when you had the chance, kid! Now I-" Magic Man stopped, looked up, and for the first time ever, Finn noticed him take an expression that didn't involve smiling. He almost looked scared. Finn looked up as well, and saw a very familiar sight.

The bottom of a wooden instrument planted itself on the ground, the other end being topped with a green orb, and sitting on that orb was the very person Finn came all this way to see.

"Magic Man, when I allowed you to stay in my forest, I do believe I was very clear in explaining that I didn't want you performing your… decidedly unappealing magic while within its barriers."

The Magic Man said nothing. He simply back-flipped into a portal and out of existence.

"I don't know why I put up with strays like him." Rigid sighed. He hopped off his staff looked at Finn. "Well, if it isn't Bonnibel's little knight in felt armor. It appears that the little spitfire isn't here." He said. He took notice of the dog-shaped pile of jam on the ground.

"I imagine you want that Fixed." He shot a ray from his staff and turned Jake back to normal. "Now, how can I-" Rigid stopped talking as he noticed that Finn was running towards him, sword raised. He blocked Finn's sword with his staff and kicked him in the stomach. He then flew over Finn and landed several feet away.

"Listen, if yo-" Rigid stopped talking again, but this time for a totally different reason. Something caught his eye. Lying on the ground was a white, cowl-like hat with small ears protruding from the top. "Where…" Rigid wasn't fast enough to stop Finn from snatching the piece of headwear from his hand, putting it on his head.

"Keep off the hat, freak." He said defensively.

"That hat is yours?" Rigid asked. "Where did you get it?"

Finn noticed an odd sense of urgency in Rigid's voice.

"I had it when I was found as a baby." He said.

Rigid's eyes narrowed. "You're not an elf, are you?" he asked.

Finn decided he wasn't afraid, and would not hide himself. "No way. I'm a human; last of my kind and proud of it! And there's no way you're doing any freaky experiments on me!"

Rigid looked at the boy, confused. He didn't know what the boy was talking about, but he didn't really have much time to care. "You have to leave now. Terribly sorry."

With that, he wrapped Finn and Jake in roots from the ground, and sent them both up and through the hole leading back to the surface.

"Hey! I still haven't beaten you up yet!" He could hear the boy yelling, but paid no mind to it.

As soon as Finn and Jake were plopped into the ground, the hole leading to the underground forest was made inaccessible by large roots closing off entrance to those too small to fit between them.

"Aww nuts." Jake said, though he actually a little relieved to be out of that place. "Man, that guy sounded pretty weird after I told him I was human, huh?." Said Finn. "He'd probably ust never seen one before and didn't know how to handle it. Anyway, it's pretty late; we should be getting back to the tree house." Jake picked Finn up and placed him on his back, and the two began their journey home.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter VII

Upon their return to the tree house, Finn and Jake were both exhausted. Finn didn't even bother to get into his sleeping bag or pajamas before passing out.

**Finn's eyes are open, and though he can see everything around him, he can't move. He is in a pristine**, **white room. There are two figures in front of him that seem to be conversing about something. One leaves Finn's vision, and the other peers over him and lightly brushes his cheek with its hand. He can almost make out what appears to be the face of a female with red hair…**

"Wha- huh?" Finn awoke from his slumber with an uncomfortable feeling in his back.

"Good, you're awake." He heard a voice a turned to it.

It was then that he realized that everything was purple.

"Whoa, hey, where am I?" Fin tried to stand up, but hit his head on something.

He was being held in a magic, floating force field, moving at who know how fast, following someone. That someone was the person who'd been causing a lot of problems for Finn lately.

"I'm glad you're up the sun's just starting the rise." Rigid was riding his magic staff like a surf board high in the air over the thick forests, with Finn contained in a purple-tinted magic orb following him.

"Where are you taking me, you weirdo?! You gonna do freaky experiments on me or something?"

"I don't know what you've heard about me, but I don't do any sort of experiments on creatures, least of all humans." Rigid dove down with Finn following close behind. "We're here."

Finn looked down to see what the wizard was talking about.

There was a large clearing in the thick woods that held a relatively large city, maybe big enough for maybe a few thousand people.

"What is the place?" Finn asked, still hostile.

"I'll show you." Rigid replied calmly. He and Finn flew just over the city, and Finn noticed that it was empty. "Everyone's asleep right now. They'll be awake soon." Rigid explained.

The wizard, with Finn in tow, flew into a building that seemed to be a library. Rigid jumped off his staff and released Finn from his force field.

"Here, you'll need this." Rigid pulled Finn's adventure pack and sword from his coat.

"Alright, what the glop is going on?!" Finn asked, his tone still hostile.

Rigid walked to retrieve a book from one of the library shelves. "What if I told you weren't the last of the humans?"

Finn's eyes grew wide, and suddenly lost all hostility.

"I won't bore with the whole story. Let's just say that after the last human empire fell, the humans who survived decided to disappear for a few centuries. I've been keeping watch over them the whole time."

"Wha- ho…"

"If you don't believe me, go outside, see for yourself." They both heard a loud ringing from outside. "They should be up right about now."

Finn rushed outside, and what he saw nearly brought tears to his eyes. Albeit very few, there were humans walking about, leaving their homes, alive and normal. No mutations, not oddities, none of that. Just normal human beings. Finn felt a hand on his shoulder.

"If you were proud to be human before, I can't imagine how you must feel now."

"How- where did all this come from."

"It's quite a tale, and I may tell it to you one day. But for now, go, see your people." Finn stood still for a moment, and tried to process what was happening. But he didn't need long to do this, apparently, as mere moments later he grew a wide grin and ran off, only to be stopped by the wizard. "Oh, and be sure not to let anyone find out you're not a member of the city."

With that, Finn departed.

Rigid adjusted his sunglasses and smirked. "There are big things in store for that boy. Big things indeed." He said to himself, as he retreated into the library.

Finn ran into the city with more enthusiasm than he had doing anything else in his life, warranting a few confused stares from other humans. He didn't know, or really care, where he was going, but the building with several weapons on display certainly caught his eye.

He charged towards the smith and began examining the weapons, when he heard a voice.

"You've got a good eye."

Finn turned to see a tall man with pale skin and freckles, and light brown hair.

"Whoa." Finn said, approaching the man and starting to touch his face. "Uhh, Can I help you with somethin, child?" He asked, confused by the boy's actions.

"No, no I'm fine." Finn retracted his hands and went back to looking at a particularly fetching battleaxe.

"That one's an original piece. Made it myself last week."

"It's totally math."

The black smith gave the boy a confused stare. "Are you alright? You don't look like you're from this part of the city?"

Finn's eyes widened. He remembered what Rigid told him about no one knowing where he was from. "Ugh, nope, I'm from a whole other part of town." He said.

"Ah, case of wanderlust, eh?" asked the kindly black smith.

"Something like that."

"I understand. So are you here to buy, or just looking?"

"Oh, I've got a sword of my own, I'm just checking things out."

"Take all the time you need." The black smith retreated to behind his counter, where he started reading a book.

Finn, didn't want to over stay his welcome, and took his leave of the store, to see what else this city had to offer.

The experience was odd, Finn decided.

For almost all his life, he felt like he didn't belong, or he was out of place. But now, surrounded by his own kind, he felt normal. Though, at the same time, he **was** in a secret city hidden deep within the, so he felt like they were all abnormal. It was a funny feeling, and in all honesty, Finn really enjoyed it.

He wandered the streets aimlessly, wondering where he should go. He suddenly heard the bellowing voice of some man in the distance.

"Who thinks they can best me?!"

Finn knew what he wanted to do now, and followed the voice.

From the middle of a crowd of people the bellowing voice could be heard

"Come on! Who here thinks they can best me in the art of combat!" yelled the large man.

"Everyone here's tried, no one's beaten you!" a complaint from the crowd sounded.

"I'll fight him!"

Everyone gasped in surprise, and the crowd parted to reveal the challenger.

Finn stood proud before the crowd, enthusiasm beaming from his face.

"You think you can beat me, boy?" the tall, gruff man asked in disbelief.

"Yup. Hope you've got someone to pick up the pieces after I'm done with you." Finn taunted.

The man's brow furrowed. "Very well, if you think you've got what it takes." The man picked a hammer from off the ground. "Draw your weapon."

Finn shrugged and drew his demonic sword.

"Come on Henry! This kid's got nothin'" someone yelled.

"Get 'im, kid! Knock him off his high horse." Called another.

Neither Finn nor the man deemed Henry were listening.

They recognized in each other's eyes that they had both entered a sort of other dimension, deaf to all sound but the horns of war.

Yet, though Henry could tell the boy had possessed this state of mind before, it seemed odd. As if the sense of battle was present, but the drive was utterly different. Shrugging off this feeling, he charged, swinging his hammer horizontally. The crowd watched in amazement as Finn angled his sword so that the hammerhead would not deliver impact, but instead fall diagonally and crash into the ground.

Before he could pick his hammer back up and find is footing, the boy leaped up to pounce on him. He let go of his hammer, and delivered an earth shattering punch to the boy's stomach. He at first worried he had done a bit too much to the boy, but gawked at the fact that the boy still managed to land on his feet, albeit while cradling his abdomen, and was laughing.

"Crud, hehehe, you really knocked the wind outa me." Finn said as he picked his sword up.

The man hadn't encountered an enemy of this nature before. This time he would wait for his opponent to make the first move. As Finn recomposed himself, he noticed Henry taking a more stable stance, suggesting he was going on the defensive.

Little did he know, that's exactly how Finn wanted it.

"RRAAAAGGH!" he screamed as he charged toward the man who stood firm. But, as he reached the man, he leapt over him, causing the man to turn around expecting an attack from behind. He turned around as Finn's arms rose, suggesting he was going to attack, only for Finn to cartwheel his way around him. He tried to switch positions again, but lost his footing, and, taking the opportunity, Finn tripped him and pressed the flat of his sword to his back, pinning him to the ground.

"Gotta keep your feet on the ground, man." He said.

He got up and held out a hand to the heavy warrior.

"This was fun, we'll have to do it again."

Henry was aghast.

"I…" was all he could utter before something broke.

"Dad!" called the voice of a girl.

Finn turned to see a girl maybe a few years older than him and carrying a bow with arrows breaking through the crowd. She kneeled down to Henry as he lay on the ground. "Are you okay?"

"Fine, girl, just a little rattled." He took Finn's hand and hoisted himself off the ground.

"Alright everyone! Clear out, no more to see here!" The crowd dispersed grumbling about the fight, leaving Finn, Henry and his daughter standing the middle of the street.

"Where did you learn to fight like that, boy?" Asked Henry as he slapped Finn on the back, nearly knocking him over.

"Oh, you know. Just been doin' for a while." He held his hand out.

"I'm Finn."

"And, as I'm sure you've guessed, I am Henry, Henry Gollendeer." He shook Finn's hand firmly.

"And this is my daughter, Talia." Talia could only look at Finn with suspicion.

"Go on, speak up girl."

She approached Finn started eyeing him cautiously. "I haven't seen you around here before." She pointed at him accusingly. "Where did you come from?"

Finn backed up slightly. "'I'm, uh, from another part of the city. Pretty far from here."

"And you just happened to come all this way for no reason?"

Finn gulped and tried to think of what to say.

"Now, Talia, what have I told you about 'interrogating' people." Said Henry.

Talia looked at her father for a moment, before taking one more glace at Finn and leaving.

"I don't know what to do with that girl. She's so suspicious of other people. Don't worry, she'll warm up to you eventually." With that, Henry was off, likely to find his daughter, leaving Finn to stand alone in the street, until he too continued on his path.

He still couldn't believe it. He was walking through a town full of normal human beings. There were so many questions he had. What happened to his people? What about Susan and the Hyoo-mans? And how exactly is Rigid connected to all of this? Finn's overwhelming enthusiasm and growing curiosity was starting to give him a headache.

He continued to walk through the observing the many different humans. Some had black hair, brown hair; occaisionaly, he would see another blonde haired human. Their skin tones ranged from pale to deep tan. No one was pink or green, and none of them had incredibly exaggerated features. He didn't feel quite so out of place among them.

Whilst observing buildings, something suddenly caught his eye. It was a large building with a stylized question mark on it. Finn recognized it to be the one on Rigid's button. He stood outside of the entrance of the building, when he felt a tap on his shoulder.

"Excuse me, are you going to enter?"

Finn turned to see a young man about Finn's age with Black hair tied back into a pony tail, with two lock's framing his face, and one stray lock hanging freely in the middle of his face. He was dressed in a peculiar purple robe with dark green trim.

"Uh, I wasn't- uh, what is this place?" Finn asked nervously.

The young man looked at Finn incredulously."Must not be from this part of the city." he said in a deadpan tone of voice. "This is the Arcane Institute."

"Cool. What happens here?"

"If you like, I can show you around"

He entered the building and Finn followed. The building appeared to have several floors, the first floor having shelves packed with books that lined the walls.

"The building itself is more like a library than anything else." Finn nodded as the boy spoke.

"Though kids like me come here to study magic. It's sort of like a school."

Finn stuck his tongue out at the word 'school.' Being raised by dogs, he never went to conventional schools, but he'dheard about them, and didn't like what he'd heard. He learned to read and write, of course, but he was also taught to fight, hunt and forage, and developed indifference toward traditional schoolings. Still, he was being offered a tour, and didn't want to seem rude.

"However, only a select few are allowed to attend lessons. Hand-picked by Master Loken."

"Who?" asked Finn.

"You probably know him has Rigid."

"Oh" Finn wasn't too surprised.

If Rigid was the leader of this city as he claimed, then it would make sense that, being a wizard himself, he would also have some authority of any magic users in the city.

"I do wonder why he picked us sometimes though, given that humans can't use magic naturally."

Now that surprised him. Human's couldn't do magic? He was about to ask when he remembered something that Rigid had told him. '_be sure not to let anyone find out you're not a member of this city.' _Finn had to make sure not to seem like an outsider, so kept his mouth shut.

"Anyway, we learn magic theory and techniques here, and occaisionaly Master Loken oversees our studies. Come on, there are more floors." The boy gestured for Finn to follow him, and he did.

"My name's Evin by the way."

"I'm Finn."

"A pleasure, Finn. Come, this is where most of the studying comes in." Finn and Evin exited the stair case to see several other young adults clad in the same uniform that Evin was wearing reading from big books, practicing incantations and doing something that could only be described as meditating, though it looked more like they were holding their hands out in the hopes that something might come from them. Noticing Finn's confused look, Evin took the time to explain.

"They're practicing spell mentality. You have to be in a very specific state of mind while casting to get the right spell." He explained, all while maintaining a monotone.

"We can't cast spells, but Master Loken makes sure we understand it. I've asked why, be never gives a straight answer. I wonder if he will ever reveal his reasons for teaching us. He's quite the mystery." Finn couldn't agree more. Evin continued towards a table. For the first time since talking to him, he saw the Finn saw him smile. "Would you like to see something interesting?." Finn nodded and followed the young man.

The two grabbed two seats at the table before Evin pulled something from a small satchel. "This is a crystal ball. Master Loken told us that if one who was truly gifted looked into it, they would see things; visions that could tell of future events, or information that you need." He placed the crystal ball on a stand and began to look into it. "I'm the only student who's been able to use it."

"But humans can't use magic, can they?"

"They can't, not anymore. Rigid tells us that the humans of old were not only powerful wizards, but noble warriors. But, that was long before now."

Finn could detect a hint of sadness in Evin's voice, even through his monotone. "You alright?"

Evin looked surprised to have his sadness picked up on. "Fine. Just." He looked at Finn with seriousness in his eyes. "I owe Master Loken very much. Call it idolizing, but I want to be able to be like him. Or rather, I want to be able to do what he does. I want the bountiful knowledge of the magical world at my disposal; to be able to study the incredible power of magic. But I can't." He said. He backed away a little, likely embarrassed to have revealed so much to this stranger.

Finn, in character of his 'nice-guy' status, wanted to lift his new friend's spirits.

"Let's see what is says now, huh?" Finn suggested.

Evin smiled just a bit."I don't see why not." He said, seemingly excited to demonstrate what he could do. He placed two fingers on each of his temples and looked intensely into the orb, and visions began to flow into his head.  
_**The city wall lies in crumbles, open to all who live within it, to be led back from the trenches to where they once were. **_

_**Evil beasts threaten good people, and a warrior of pure heart stands in their way. The warrior unites the people to fight the evil that faces them.**_

_**The throne will be filled, and the crown be restored, and those who had fallen so low will rise again.**_

The visions faded and Evin reared back, his head pounding.

"Dude, you alright?" asked Finn.

Evin stared at the boy sitting across from him. "I don't… The visions have never been that… intense." Evin said, rubbing his eyes.

He could swear that just for an instant, upon looking at Finn, he could see the mighty warrior standing in his place.

"You sure you're good?" asked Finn worried.

"Yes yes, I'm fine. Just. Fine." He said. "Now, I'm afraid I have work to do. Students only." He hurriedly got up and packed his things, leaving Finn sitting alone at the table.

_I wonder what he saw. _Finn wondered as he saw the distraught young man heading up another flight of stairs.

Upon exiting the building, Finn noticed the sun beginning to set. He didn't want Jake to get worried, or worse, suspicious. He made for Rigid's library.

Finding the Library, Finn entered and heard the wizard speaking with someone.

"Talia, you know I trust you so, but this claim that someone intruded the city is just downright ludicrous."

"But this kid's weird! He managed to beat my dad, and he's got this crazy red sword!" A familiar looking girl with a bow strapped to her back and a quiver full of arrows around her waist stood waving he arms at Rigid, who was returning a look combining annoyance and lack of interest, yet also a hint of endearment.

Talia pouted and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Uh, Rigid?" Finn said, alerting the Talia and Rigid.

Rigid gave Finn a small nod of acknowledgement, while Talia gave a much less friendly greeting.

"It's him!" she shouted.

All in one, fluid motion, Talia withdrew her bow, aimed an arrow at Finn's waiting head, and let it fly directly toward him.

Finn narrowly avoided the projectile and continued to jump around to avoid the next barrage of arrows that Talia fired at him.

"Why are you shooting at me?!" shouted Finn.

It could be assumed that Talia just wasn't listening, but it's more likely that she just didn't want to admit she didn't have an answer other than just blind hostility.

Watching the display of violence, Rigid briefly considered stopping them, but decided he would find much more enjoyment in simply watching things unfold, so he put a shield on all of his bookshelves so the arrows would damage them, and watched the show.

"Could you just chill for a sec and listen to me?!" Finn pleaded as he ran around the library dodging arrows as they continuously came at him

"No way! I don't know what you're up to, but I'm stopping you before you threaten this city!" Talia replied.

Finn was having just about enough. He drew his sword and started deflecting arrows as they came toward him. He charged toward Talia who backed up, continuing to fire arrows, but Finn either blocked or dodged them. Soon enough, he had reached her, and slashed her quiver from her belt, kicking it away from her. With no arrows, Talia could only attempt to clonk Finn on the head with her bow, but to no avail, as Finn Blocked her bow with his sword. "Now, will you calm down and listen to me!" Before Talia could even think of an answer, the two were enveloped in a green aura, and their weapons fell to the ground.

"Well, I think I'll stop this before one of you kills the other." Announced Rigid, finally deciding to intervene.

"Rigid, this is the guy! He's the one I told you about!" Talia cried.

"Well, you were right. There certainly is something different about this boy." Remarked the wizard in that ever smug tone. "Finn, I hear word you took part in a small brawl."

"Nothin too serious. Just smoked this girl's old man." He shot Talia a glare that made her face redden with anger.

"Rigid, you know this kid?" she asked accusingly.

"Talia, this boy is named Finn. I have employed him for reasons that I must keep secret, you know how it goes." He said, lowering Talia and Finn onto the ground and releasing them from his field.

Finn was about to shoot Talia another arrogant glare, but decided against it when he saw her reaction to Rigid's words. For whatever reason, she had a terribly saddened expression, combining sorrow, confusion, and a hint of jealousy. These however, weren't shown so much on her face; she was only frowning slightly; but in her eyes. In those little brown pools Finn could tell how she really felt.

"Bu- but why? What's so special about him?" she asked, still masking her fury. It seemed Finn wasn't the only one picking up Talia's frustration, as Rigid's smug expression softened show a degree of sympathy.

"Come now, Talia. You know you'll always be the 'sworn protector of the city.' No force on the planet can change that." He placed a hand on near the side of Talia's head, and with a flick of his wrist, a small, white flower appeared, complimenting her red hair.

Talia blushed furiously before feigning anger at the Wizard.

"What'd ya go and do that for! I don't like stuff like flowers!"

"And yet it remains right where I left it." Talia's blush brightened, and she was forced to fake her anger harder.

"I'm outa here!" she said, still leaving the flower in her hair.

"Goodbye, sworn protector." Called Rigid, just as the library door slammed shut.

Finn could only gawk at the display he saw, and came to an inevitable conclusion, "Dude, I think Talia has a crush on you."

"Oh most certainly, but I try not to let it distract from our duties." He explained.

"Now, what brings you here?" he asked.

"Well, it's getting pretty late, and I was thinking I need to be getting home." Said Finn.

"Oh, you wouldn't rather stay here? With your people?" Finn paused. He hadn't even thought of the possibility of staying in the city. Before even thinking about it for a moment, however, he already had his answer.

"I'd love to. But, I can't leave Jake. And I'm still the hero of Ooo. As much as I enjoy this place, I have a place out there. It's an opportunity for adventure that I can't pass up." He said.

Rigid smiled. "Quite the interesting response. Well, if you should ever like to return, this should help." He handed Finn a small talisman. "Just shake it up and in due time, you'll be taken to either your home, or here. Just picture either one. Now, you should be getting home, and I should return to my forest to make sure Magic Man hasn't wreaked any havoc on it."

Finn nodded. "Man, I can't wait to tall Jake all about this."

Rigid Jumped, "No, nononono. You cannot tell anyone about the city. It's very important that humans remain a secret to Ooo. You have to promise not to tell anyone." He pleaded.

Finn looked on for a moment and smiled. "I promise." He said.

Rigid smiled and nodded. Finn began shaking the talisman while picturing his Treehouse. A flash of light emitted from the talisman, and suddenly, Finn was staring at the front door of his home, just as the sun finished setting behind him. "Wow, it really works." Finn marveled.

He entered his home to find the main room empty.

"Finn! You're back!" Jake rushed down the stairs and coiled his rubberized arms around Finn in a lung-puncturing hug. Ignoring the pain, Finn was panicking in his head.

_Oh glob! What do I tell Jake?! _

He hadn't even considered that Jake had no idea where he'd been all day.

"Dude! Where were you! I woke up and you were gone, and now you're just showing up at the end of the day?" Jake asked in a half-worried-half-accusing tone.

Finn could think very well with Jake's hug cutting off most of his blood, and just blurted out the fist excuse he could think of.

"I couldn't sleep so I went for a walk and got lost!" he said quickly. Jake finally unwrapped Finn who took a long gasp to catch his breath.

"Lost? All day? That doesn't sound like you."

Finn just shrugged nervously. "What can I say? I promise it won't happen again." He assured.

Finn then made his way up the stairs. "Well, I think I'm gonna hit the sack."

"Dude, it's not even that late."

"I know, but I was lost out there for a while." He explained nervously.

"Ok, bro. Sleep well." Jake said as Finn ascended the stairs.

Even though Finn was mostly trying to get to bed because he didn't want to have to think of more excuses for his absence, he truly was tired after spending all day at the human city. As a result, he plopped right onto bed, spent.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter VIII

When Finn awoke the next morning, everything seemed normal enough. He thankfully hadn't been kidnapped by Rigid again, and could get the day started on his terms.

After a quick wash at the fountain, he made his way to the nook to see what Jake was cooking for breakfast.

"What's for chow, Jake?" he asked.

Jake stood in front of two piles containing 95% food, 5% other, each resting on a flat blanket of dough. "Just about to fry up our everything burritos." He called exuberantly.

He wrapped up the culinary abominations and placed them both into the deep fryer. As soon as the food was well cooked, the two began an eating frenzy until they were full and satisfied. Finn decided he would rest his stomach on his thinking log. He thought about the city; when it might be a good time to return to it.

Mostly he thought about all the questions he had for Rigid. What happened to the humans? Why are they hidden? What about Susan, and the hyoo-mans? Are there other humans living outside the city, maybe in other parts of the world? Questions like these flooded the young boy's mind. All he knew was he wasn't the last of the humans, and supposed that was enough for him, at least for now.

"Finn!" a cry in the distance broke Finn from his state of thought and he turned to see what the source of the noise was. In the distance, he could see a small, bright light that seemed to be getting closer. He got up and walked towards the light to inspect. As it got closer, the light seemed to take shape, and Finn recognized it as a certain Flaming cat.

"Finn! Finn! You gotta help!" Flambo Ran towards Finn, a feeling of panic evident on his face.

"Flambo? What are you doing here?" Finn asked.

"Finn! Trouble! The princess!" Flambo stuttered out.

"What?! What happened to her?"

"The king! He locked her up for hanging out witch yous, now he's got the city on total lockdown!"

"Oh no!" Finn shouted. _This is my fault! I gotta do something! _He thought. Without hesitation, he ran back into the house to get Jake. It was time for another adventure.

Saffron sat in the cell atop her tower, feelings of sadness and loneliness haunter very being. She always had a feeling this would be the outcome of her actions. The string of events leading to this still remained clear in her mind, and she could replay them in her head. -

"Daughter, Where have you been going?" Asked the Flame King.

"…"

"Tell me, NOW!"

"… I've been going to see Finn!"

"WHAT?!" The Flame King Boomed at his daughter. "I'll have that heathen's head!"

"NO!" The Princess cried.

"What?..."

"I'm not going to let you hurt him!" she announced.

"Listen to yourself! Trying to protect this boy! You are evil!"

"No… No I'm not! I'm not evil, not anymore! I don't want to be!"

"AUUUUUUGGGH!" The Flame King screamed furiously and ignited to form a huge cloud of fire that enveloped Saffron in an instant. Before she even realized it, she'd been flown to the highest tower of the castle, and thrown into one of the many enchanted prison cells that cancels a flame-being's powers. The door slammed shut, and her father scowled at her from behind the bars on the door.

"Think about who you are while you're in here!" he said to her before vanishing in a haze of fire.-

A fiery tear befell the Flame Princess' features as she thought about what had happened.

And yet, she wasn't nearly as saddened as she should probably be.

Yes, she was imprisoned, and probably wouldn't be let out any time soon. But, ironically, she felt truly free for the first time in her life. She was finally free from her father's servitude. But, she was also deeply worried; worried about Finn. How would her father deal with him? It wasn't like him to just leave the Fire Kingdom just to kill someone, but he did have people that could do that for him. And it had been almost two days since her imprisonment. He could already be dead! She shuddered at the thought.

If Finn had been harmed because of her… _no. No, that can't happen. Finn's strong. He wouldn't just die, he wouldn't leave me. _With that statement, the Flame princess felt conflicted. She couldn't deny that she wanted to be free from her cell; to be with Finn again. But, she couldn't bear the thought of him putting himself in danger for her. He could handle any assassin or single guard her Father sent after him, but he wouldn't survive coming to the city, especially now that every guard available was probably on the lookout for him.

Then again, he didn't know she was captured. He wouldn't even know where to look fer her if he decided to rescue her. With this in mind, Saffron calmed down a bit. It seemed so long as she knew Finn was safe, she could rest easy.

"Princess? You in there?" The Flame Princess could swear she heard Finn's voice. "Princess!"

She looked out the barred hole in the wall that served as a window and welled up half with anger and half with happiness! "Finn! What are you doing here?!" she asked, running up to the bars.

"We're here to rescue you." he replied in a tone that was much too casual.

"We?" asked the princess.

Finn suddenly rose in the air to reveal that he was standing on Jake who was holding him up to the window with his stretching powers. They were both a deep shade of blue, suggesting that they had a fire-proof enchantment on them.

"Hey princess!" he said.

"Guys, do you know how much you're risking by being here?! How did you even know I was in danger?!"

"Flambo told us." The Princess sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Finn, you will die if you stay here. My father probably has every guard in the fire kingdom aiming to mount your skull on a pike." The princess' tone was urgent, and scared. "Please. I don't want you getting hurt because of me." Finn smiled.

"Sorry Princess. Jake, if you would." On command, Jake tore off the bars on the window, part of the wall with them, and hastily grabbed the Princess.

"Hey! What're you-"

"Sorry Saff, but we have a moral opposition against princesses being imprisoned." Jake said as he put the princess on his back, next to Finn.

"Your father's kept you in a lantern, and a jail cell, Saff. I know he's your dad, but he's evil. You don't really want to stay with him do you?"

"No, but he'd never stop looking for me, or you. He'd hunt you to no end." Saffron grabbed Finn's hand; there was a sad, scared look in her eyes.

"He doesn't know I took you. We were careful not to be seen." Finn explained.

"Jake, take us up." With that, Jake launched upward into the smog-clouds and elongated his body in order to glide unseen. Finn used his hat to cover is mouth and closed his eyes so that the smog wouldn't harm him.

Saffron, despite her panic, was a little touched that he would risk his health for her. She knew how harmful the smoggy skies of the fire kingdom were to non-denizens, and if not for that enchantment, Finn probably wouldn't even be able to survive in her land.

"Finn." She said in a hushed tone, "My father knows I've been going to see you while he's away. Who else is he going to think took me?"

"Oh, well, he doesn't know where to find me, right?"

"No, of course I didn't tell him that. But he'll find someone who will."

Finn made a look of worry, but smiled at the princess despite. "Saffy…" Finn grabbed Saffron's hand, "I aint afraid of your dad or any of his cronies. If it's evil, I'll fight it." he reassured her.

Saffron smiled at the boy's resolve. _He's such a bonehead… hehe._ "Okay, Finn, I guess I can't talk you out of this. But, he **will** still be looking for me." she reminded him.

"We thought of that, Princess." Jake said.

"Huh?" she replied.

"Yea Saffy, we know somewhere you can be safe. You'll love it." Finn added.

Saffron nodded, a little unsure, but still trusting of Finn's words.

Soon the smog around them disappeared, and they found themselves far outside of the Fire Kingdom. "Okay, so now where do we go?" Asked the Flame Princess.

"Somewhere evil would never show itself." Finn replied.

"But…" Saffron wanted to speak, but could not find her voice.

"Saffy? What is it?" Finn asked.

"Finn. **I'm **evil. What if I can't go to this place?"

"Saffy, you're not evil. Don't think you are just because your father is evil."

"But what if-"

"Saffron, I **know** you're not evil. Anyone who says otherwise's gotta answer to me!" he said resolutely.

"… Okay. Thanks Finn." Finn nodded and turned to Jake. "You ready, buddy?" Jake nodded. "To Mount Cragdore!" he announced into the air.

"Welcome travelers! Coming her means you are about to embark on a spectacular journey…" Finn, Jake, and Saffron stood at the gates of Mount Cragdore as the odd little man with the Key-shaped hat babbled before them.

"Only the most bravest of- Oh, pardon me, it's you Hero Finn I hadn't realized, my apologies; I do this so many times it's become a habit of mine. Oh what am I doing still babbling come in, com in!" the Keyper spoke in Rapid pace and proceeded to open the door by stick his head into the lock.

As the trio continued through the forest surrounding the mountain dungeon, Finn and Jake waved to the gnomes that hunted old ladies, and the old ladies they pretended to kill. They waved to the giant who lifted them to the top of the mountain. They waved to evil spirit that inhabited the dungeon, who was still a little sore since Finn sucker punched him for being evil. Finally, they reached Manish Man the Minotaur.

"Finn! What brings you here!?" he asked in the same bombastic tone that accompanied all his speeches.

"Hey minotaur. Could I ask a favor?" asked Finn so casually you would forget the man he was talking you had a bull's head and hooves.

"No prob Finn, anything for you, my man!" the bombastic beast-man was more than willing to help the hero.

"Come on Saffy, it's alright." Finn points to her and she blushes embarrassingly.

Manish Man frowned. He kneeled down to Finn and whispered to him "Uhhh Finn. This place is supposed to be a ledgend. You can't just bring people here. Not to mention, she's from the fire kingdom. Where everyone is evil." The minotaur didn't want to be offensive, but knew all too well how the Fire Kingdom worked.

"It's okay dude, she's cool." Manish Man nodded, always ready to trust Finn's judgment.

"Hello there little flame chick! I'm Manish Man the minotaur!" Said the minotaur to the Flame Princess.

"Uh… Hello." She replied nervously.

"Manish Man, she needs somewhere safe to stay. There's nowhere safer than Mount Cragdore; do you think she could crash here?" Finn asked.

Manish Man thought for a moment. "Well… If Finn vouches for you. We have a room with a lava pit that we used to use for barbeques before we got the gigantic grill. You could stay in there." He smiled at Saffron.

"I do not wish to impose." The Flame Princess said.

"Not at all. A new person might jazz things up around here. Finn her room is on the south side of the labyrinth with the stone green door, why don't you take her there."

"Thanks Manish Man. I owe ya."

"Woah-ho there Finn, you're gonna regret giving me that kind of power." Replied the minotaur as he exited the dungeon.

Finn lead the Flame princess to her new accommodations, while Jake left to go see what was cooking on the grill. The room was basically exactly as the man described; a room with a lava pit.

And nothing else.

"Well, he said they don't use it anymore." Finn said embarrassingly.

Saffron smiled at his blushing face. "It's fine Finn. Better than staying in that lantern. Could you perhaps cut me some wood? I can sleep on that or charcoal; something to fuel me during the night." She said.

"No probs Saff." Finn replied. He was about to leave to get the wood, but stopped when something grabbed his shoulder.

That same something pulled him around and brought him into a deep kiss. His blues eyes widened considerably, then fluttered closed. How could this happen he wondered. He could tell the Flame Princess was kissing him, but she wasn't burning him. She gave off intense heat, but it was comforting, not painful. It was an interesting experience; Finn never thinking Saffron would be able to control her to such a level.

The kiss broke, and Finn was left with a light head, a goofy grin and a blush bright enough to guide a bird through the woods in the dead of night.

"All the training to control my powers was leading to that. Totally worth it." She said with a breathy voice.

Finn smiled and giggled dumbly. "I, uh, hehehe, I'll go get that wood for you." He said as he stumbled out of her door.

Saffron laughed quietly. "I love that idiot."

While Jake had already left for home after taking Saffron to the mountain, but Finn told him he wanted to stay a bit longer to be with Saffron.

Jake took the hint loud and clear.

Finn had gotten out of the dungeon late, the sun just ending its descent beyond the horizon.

"A very good thing you did, young Finn." A smooth, sly voice emerged from nowhere. Finn recognized it immediately.

"Rigid?" he asked. The wizard descended from his position hovering over Finn.

"The very same." He announced. "And like I was saying, that was a very good thing you did."

"Well, you know how it goes. Saving people from evil." Finn replied as modestly as he could.

"No, this was different. It wasn't just your good nature this time, nor was it your romantic feelings for that little spirfire; you've not just saved her from being a victim of evil. You've saved her from becoming evil herself." He smirked.

"You've set someone destined for evil on the path of good; not a simple feat. You have an aura about yourself, Finn the human boy. A kind of aura that great things are made of."

The magical man flew off into the night. Finn could have asked him what he meant. He could have asked more about humans. He could have shown a bit of concern at the fact that the sorcerer knew what Finn had been doing. But, with all that had happened recently, Finn decided knew nothing could deter his mood.

"What do you mean, you can't kill him?!" The Flame King roared at the being before him.

The aforementioned entity was an incredibly tall fire denizen, bandages wrapping his head, waist, forearms and legs.

The Scorcher.

"You are the royal Assassin of the Fire Kingdom, you will do as I say!"

The Scorcher's reply came in the form of a floating scroll.

_The target you have assigned to this agent has already been terminated._

The Flame king let the note burn in his hands. "That's impossible! He was here! I know it!"

Another note; _As per the Assassin's code, any target who has defeated an agent, or has convinced the agent that death has taken them earns pardon. We are agents of death, and any who can cheat death have earned life._

With that, the Scorcher leaves, likely to go scorch something, and the Flame King sits in his home, an angry shade of blue fire now composing his body.

"Sire, no one saw your daughter's kidnappers, it could have been followers of your brother." Says the Flame King's squire.

"No… It was him. I can feel it." Says the Flame King, heaving his breath in anger.

"Then why not simply do away with him yourself?"

"A king goes out and deliberately kills a young man? That would lead to political catastrophe! I'm evil, not crazy."

The King sent his squire away. He neglected to mention his other reason for not going after the boy. He would never admit it, but he wasn't for sure he could beat the boy. This hero was hardened from battles passed, despite his age, and had proven himself to be formidable in their last encounter.

Moreover, his biggest worry that it was too late. His daughter hated him, and killing the boy would increase the damage. His daughter was now on a new path, and the fact that he was powerless to change that angered him more than he was willing to show.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter IX

It had been three days since Finn had rescued Saffron.

That seemed to have been a defining moment in his life.

He'd gotten the girl, escaped the bad guy; things were good. So good, in fact, that he decided to do something he'd been neglecting to do for quite some time. Careful not to wake up Jake, he got out of bed and into his clothes. He found the talisman that rigid had given him during his last visit to the human city.

He was going to make another visit.

_Now, how did Rigid say to use this thing? _Finn thought to himself. _Didn't he just say to shake it?_

Finn shrugged and began to shake the item rapidly. He smiled as it began to low a green color. Within minutes, a flash of light erupted from the talisman and Finn found himself in front of Rigid's library, the sun just barely beginning it's ascension from beyond the mountains.

"It worked!" Finn said in an enthusiastic manner. He put his hands to his mouth, worried his outburst might have attracted attention, but soon realized no one was awake yet. With nothing else to do, Finn went about wandering aimlessly through the city, seeing if he might find something to occupy himself with. However, he was unaware of what or who might be watching him.

At least, he would have been unaware if perhaps she hadn't called out "You!" before loosing an arrow in his direction.

Finn turned in time enough to narrowly avoid the projectile that was aimed at his torso and drew his sword.

"Not you again!" he shouted looking at Talia aiming another arrow at him. Putting his guard down in an effort to seem friendly, Finn began to try to reason with the archer calmly and peacefully.

"What the heck is your problem with me?!"

Great start.

"My problem is you're suspicious! I can't help t think that in a city of endangered species there would be anyone I hadn't met yet, especially someone who could fight like you do. I don't know what you're up to, or what Mister Rigid has to do with it, but I'm watching you." She replied sternly as she stomped towards him.

Finn's brow furrowed at the very indignant young lady, "Oh please, you're just upset 'cause you have a crush on him and don't want anyone else hanging out with him." Finn didn't know just how accurate his claims were, but got a pretty good idea from the veritable lightshow emanating from Talia's face.

"That's- that's ridiculous! I do **not** have a crush on Mister Rigid!" Talia made a pitiful attempt to protest.

Finn smirked "Tali and Rigid sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" came Finn's vicious taunts, accompanied by kissing noises for emphasis.

Talia's face was turning redder by the minute, and threatened to burst into flame. "Grrrr! I'm gonna loose and arrow in your eye socket if you don't shut it!" She drew an arrow from her quiver and arched it back.

Finn ran as she began firing in rapid succession looking back to dodge the oncoming projectiles. Turning a corner and scaling a building, Finn looked as Talia turned the same corner and couldn't find him.

Finn smiled at his victory, but his sense of pride fell and shattered at what he saw next. Finn didn't believe it; the very idea seemed impossible to him, but he could swear that Talia was crying. Well, as close to crying as she could get; her eyes were watering and her face was scrunched in anger and sadness. Finn dropped from his position.

"Hey, woah. I'm sorry." He said. He was; more so than he'd been about anything in a while.

Talia turned to where Finn's voice was coming from and loosed another arrow at Finn's feet. It stuck in the ground just before reaching his toes.

"Whatever." Talia said through her angered expression. "Just get out of my face." Talia wanted to walk away and forget this confrontation entirely.

But, or course, despite her best efforts, Finn couldn't bring himself to sit idly by while a girl walked away from him crying; especially not when he had caused said crying.

"No, wait, come on." Caught up to her and stood in her way. "C'mon, I'm sorry. Let's talk about it."

"Just beat it!" she protested, but, little did she know, Finn helped people. Whether they wanted it or not.

"I can't just let you cry and stuff. When people got probs, I gotta help, you know?" Finn said with his most genuine smile.

Talia could've continued to protest; to just keep walking, but it was apparent even to her that Finn's persistence would not falter.

"Ugh" she groaned. She went to sit on a bench and Finn followed. "You're right, you know." She began.

"About what?" Finn asked.

"You know. I… like Rigid."

"You're kinda obvious."

Her face scrunched in anger. "He just thinks I'm a little kid. You know what that's like? The person you like doesn't even acknowledge your feelings? I know he's older but that just seems to matter a lot more to everyone else than it does to me. You know?"

"… Lady, you hit the nail on the head." Finn stated, sympathizing all too well with the distressed girl. "But, Rigid's still your friend, right?"

"Of course."

"Then there's always still a chance."

"Yeah, right. What do you know about it anyway?"

"Believe me; I know what it's like for someone to not like you. Like, I'm an expert. But if someone cares, then there's always a chance. That's a fact!" Finn stated with as much enthusiasm he could muster.

Talia looked at Finn incredulously. She though he would just spout nonsense; the typical speeches, 'you'll find someone else' and 'plenty of fish in the sea'. But, he seemed to have understood. Not in the way an adult would make a futile attempt at understanding their child, but as a true kindred spirit.

"You… you really think so, huh?" she asks.

"Totes. Would I lie to you?"

Talia smiled; the question she had asked herself now perhaps had an answer. "Thanks. You're all right, y'know that?"

"Heck yeah! I'm a hero!" Responded Finn.

"Of course you are." Even if Talia thought Finn was a bit too enthusiastic, she would humor the boy. He was a good kid, she decided, and that was enough for her. "Say, you wanna hang out?" she asked.

Finn smiled brightly at her. "Yeah! Let's tear this town up!" Finn threw his arms into the air and ran directionless into the town, while Talia ran after him.

And as they ran off, high in the sky, a wizardly gentleman watched over them. His shadowy pet crept on his shoulder.

"Yes, you're absolutely right, Charlie. One might even say it was kingly." He said, as if the shadow-rat had spoken to him.

The creature crawled onto the brim of Rigid's hat and hung in front of his face.

"Not yet. I want to take some more time to make sure he's the one." He said to the rat he flew off to the library.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter X

Finn and Talia had walked out of a mess hall, Finn with a bone still in his mouth. "That was great!" Finn proclaimed, spitting the bone into a nearby bin.

Talia had an expression made of equal parts astonishment and amusement. "I haven't seen anyone eat that much mutton besides my father." She said. In her mind, she was contemplating the possibility that Finn's stomach may just be an endless void of all encompassing space.

Tossing the thought aside, she looked around the area they were in. Time had passed surprisingly quickly, and more people were moving about the city. She could recall seeing every one of them at least once before. She couldn't place names, but there wasn't an unfamiliar face.

Except for Finn's.

She reasoned that even if humans are somewhat of an endangered species, it's possible that she may not have seen everyone in this city of thousands of individuals. But at the same time, Finn somehow seemed out of place in the city. Though the very notion of one human not fitting in with what little there were left was outrageous by all means, she could shake this feeling of uneasiness.

But, as she and Finn walked through the city, the jolly grin plastered on his face, she supposed it really didn't matter.

Finn wasn't a threat, but he sure was a mystery.

"So, what should we do now?" Finn asked.

"Well, I didn't have anything planned for today. I was just gonna watch old holovids."

"Have anything good?"

"…No, actually."

"Oh… Well, I'm sure there's something else that's fun around here." Finn said, aiming to keep spirits high.

Talia put her hand to her chin. Her eyes wandered around until she saw something that gave her and idea.

"I know!" She gestured for Finn to follow her as she hurried toward a familiar looking building with a question mark on it.

He and Talia entered the building. Finn noticed that the first floor was completely empty except for a young man with black hair tied into a ponytail. "I knew you'd be here. Always the first one in, aren't you?"

Evin didn't look up from his book. "Hello Talia, and Finn, I wasn't expecting to see the two of you." He said, still reading.

"You two know each other?" Asked Talia glancing at each of them.

"We'd met a few days ago." Evin explained, still refusing to look up from is book. "Is there anything I could help either of you with?"

"Fireworks!" Talia slammed his fist on Evin's desk. "We're bored, and I know you made new ones. We can shoot them off in the park."

Evin closed his book, and placed it on his desk. A sly grin appears over his face.

"Lemme show you what I've been working on."

Finn and Talia were walking through the city, with Evin following with a large bag of his fireworks. "I'm telling you Finn, Evin's got the best Firecrackers in the world!" Talia explained.

"Really? Sounds pretty cool." Finn replied. "What makes 'em so special, Evin?" he asked.

"I make them using runes." Evin explained.

"Huh?"

Evin reached into his pocket and pulled out a small stone with a symbol carved in it. "These stones have special magic properties. I can't do magic myself, but I can use these to imbue other objects to do certain things." He explained.

"Yeah, and he's the only nerd at that whole school who can do it." Talia added.

"Yes, well, it's one of the more advanced techniques." Evin said as modestly as he could.

He then however stood still. "Talia, we're going the wrong way." He said. His tone of voice was serious, and sounded more like he was demanding they turn around rather than correcting a mistake.

"No, we're going to _that park._" Talia replied with smugness that starkly contrasted the near-sternness in Evin's voice.

"Talia, we're not supposed to go outside the city."

"Awww, come on, _Evindol,_ we can't use the really good ones in the public park."

"Tali, need I remind you why we don't go there anymore?"

"We're not gonna get caught! My dad's gonna be at the weapon smith's all day, and I know your folks are gonna be on the eastern part of the city all day. It'll be fine." She said.

Evin stood still, skepticism clear on his face.

"Pleeeeeeeease?"

"Tali-"

"Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee eeease?"

"I don't thi-"

"I guess you don't want this…" Talia protruded something from the bag on her belt. "Raven's feather."

Evin's eyes went wide with a horrifying mix of excitement and anger. "You… how long have you had that?"

"I shot one a few days ago. I knew you needed it for a potion and saved in case I needed something from you. So, you're coming to the woods?"

Evin's eyes narrowed. He couldn't help but smile through his anger. "You're despicable." He said, shifting the weight of the bag of fireworks on his shoulders.

Finn smiled, finding the whole ordeal humorous. He thought on how long it'd been since he a disagreement between friends end so quickly. Thinking about how often he and Jake had fought only to just 'get over it', he wondered if it was something inherit about humans.

"Hey, you're coming right?" Talia said to Finn.

Finn blushed, feeling embarrassed at being caught in his dazed thinking state. "Yeah, sure." He said, catching up to them.

They made their way to a secluded part of the city; there wasn't a soul in sight.

"Here we are. The wall of the city." Talia said with a tone of excitement.

Her face dropped slightly when she noticed something. "Aww, what? They closed the hatch!" She said.

She ran to the wall, where a small metal door marked a spot close to the ground.

"Oh no, I guess we can't go into the woods. Darn, I'm just so upset-"

"You're gonna get this door open, or you're never getting the feather."

Evin's brow furrowed in frustration. _This woman will be the end of me._

"I don't even know I can get it open." He said, inspecting the hatch.

Finn got a closer look as well. "Hmmm. Lemme take a shot at it." he said.

Finn drew his demon blood sword and looked at where he intended to strike. "EYAH!" He shouted as he brought his sword down on the lock, slicing it open. With one kick, the door opened easily.

"Whoa." Both Tali and Evin said.

"Where did you get that sword?" Tali asked, looking at it with amazement.

Finn thought for the right response. "I guess my dad gave it to me." he said.

"Think he has arrowheads like that?" she asked jokingly.

"Come on, you two. Before someone finds us." Evin urged.

The three went through the hatch, and closed it behind them.

"Okay, you guys ready?" Evin asked.

"Yeah!" Talia and Finn responded.

Evin lit the fuses of two firework launchers. In a manner of seconds, sparks launched out of them, and the flames took the shape of two people who began dramatically sword fighting.

"Woooh!" Finn and Talia shouted.

Walking through the woods surrounding the city, Talia and Evin brought Finn to a sizable clearing in the trees, where they could safely shoot off Evin's fireworks. The variety of explosives Evin had was mystifying; the sparks made moving shapes, some made ice crystals, or sweet aromas. They produced fire, water, various colors of mist. As such, fun was had by all, watching the light show in a veritable Garden of Eden.

The sword fighting figures diminished and Finn laid back in the grass. "This is pretty great, guys." He said as he rested his head on the turf.

"And to think, Evin wanted to shoot them off in the local park." Talia gibed.

"Excuse me for wanting to be cautious. The forest isn't exactly the safest place, you know." Evin explained.

"Come on, no one in the city's gonna hear us, what's gonna happen?" Talia retaliated.

"Yeah, well, we're still risking a lot." Evin said. He rummaged through his bag of fireworks. "Let's see what we haven't tried."

Talia suddenly got a mischievous look on her face. "I know which one we should try."

Evin looked at her, "What do you- NO! You know what happened last time."

"Come on, you said you fixed it."

"I said I think it's fixed, I haven't tested it."

"Test it now!"

"Wait, wait, what are you guys talking about?" Finn intervened.

"Evin's got a firework that's supposed to explode around you, and be like an entire performance of sword fighters, animals, and other cool stuff around you. It's super-cool!" Talia explained.

"I would be, if it wasn't incredibly unstable. Last time it just launched into the sky like a beacon; put the entire town into panic!" Evin added curtly.

"C'mon, you said you fixed it."

"But I haven't tested it!"

"And now's a perfect time to do just that, don' you think so, Finn?" Talia looked at Finn, expecting him to agree

Finn didn't want to be in their argument, but had to admit he wanted to see this firework. "Well, you know, you shouldn't be afraid to try something. I mean, it's not like you're gonna get another chance to test it with both of us here to help if it goes wrong." He chose his words carefully, hoping not to incite further arguing. Never having been the most articulate person, Finn was worried how they might react.

Evin looked mildly frustrated, but soon his face became a bit calmer. "I guess you have a point." He said, slightly begrudgingly. "But if this goes wrong, you two are taking the blame."

Talia was about to interject, when Finn put a hand on her shoulder, and nodded. "Fine" she said, sighing.

Finn and Talia sat in the grass and watched as Evin, brought the firework out of his bag. It was large, and had the most designs carved into it, as evidence of its complexity and importance. Evin lit the fuse on the launcher, and ran back to sit next to Finn and Talia. Excitement was evident on their faces as the anxiously awaited the blast.

But it never came.

Instead, the base of the launcher began to glow, just before the explosive shot out of the side of the launcher, strait into the woods.

"Well, I didn't account for that happening." Evin said with the same deadpan tone of voice he'd used so many times before.

It wasn't much later until they heard a very, very loud roar in the distance.

"And I certainly didn't account for that."

Finn could hear the loud footsteps of whatever made that roar in the distance. They were in rapid succession, but having spent so much time in forests like this, he could recognize the pattern. There were three very large creatures, with six legs each. And that meant one thing.

"Basilisks."


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter XI

The creatures' footsteps were getting closer, and the three youths were starting to panic.

"What?!" exclaimed Talia in response to Finn's statement.

"Basilisks! Big! Scaly! Six legs! Not good!" He shouted in bursts. He turned to both of them. "You guys, get out of here! If they find us, they'll find the city! You gotta warn the people!" He insisted.

"What are you gonna do?!" Talia asked.

"We don't have time to argue!" Evin insisted.

"It's fine! I fought one before! Wasn't easy, but I beat it." Finn shouted, hearing the beasts as the drew nearer.

Talia glared at Finn. "Where did _you_ fight a basilisk?!"

Finn blushed, embarrassed by his slip up. His brow furrowed in mock anger. "Just go! Warn the other people! Now!"

Talia wanted to stay and question Finn, but Evin grabbed her arm and they ran back towards the city. As Finn watched stood his ground in the woods, he raised his sword, prepared to hold off the beasts.

"Everyone! Everyone! Emergency!" Talia shouted as she ran through the city. "BASILISKS!" she shouts.

This caused commotion in the city, as some people began to flee their homes.

"We have to get your father and the warriors." Evin said.

"They're all in a completely different part of the city! Did you see the size of those things, they could demolish entire city blocks before the warriors make it here!" Talia and turned to run back to the hatch.

"Where are we going?" asked Evin.

"We have to go out and help Finn. If he's not dead yet, he's gotta be hurt."

Evin was about to agree, but a sudden instinct made him grab her shoulder.

"What are you-" Talia was about to speak before a large crash interrupted her.

In place of the wall where the hatch was, now stood two giant, six-legged, purple and blue reptiles with yellow crests on their foreheads and beaked faces. Evin dragged Talia with him to hide behind a building.

"You're welcome." Evin said curtly.

"We gotta- wait, where's Finn?" she asked.

"Where's the third basilisk?" Evin asked.

"Two isn't enough?"

"Finn said there were three."

"Well, maybe he was wrong. You can ask him when we find him, provided he's alive to tell us."

"No, he didn't die."

Talia's features softened. "I know he's our friend, but you have to understand the reality of this situation."

Evin's eye's narrowed. "No. I can feel it. It's a weird sort of sense, but I know he can't die, not yet." He looked at Talia with complete seriousness. "Master Loken has highly advised that we not ignore such feelings."

Talia thought to argue with him, but she'd seen him like this before. On rare occasions such as this, she knew she couldn't argue with Evin.

"Whatever, we'll find Finn later. For now…" She turned to arch an arrow at one the basilisks. "We fight."

Talia arched arrow after arrow, aiming for the eyes of the beasts. She would narrowly avoid the beast's claws as they swiped at her. However, her arrows were doing little damage, as they didn't do a good job of penetrating the beasts' hides, and they were too fast to get a clear shot to the eyes, even for a master archer such as Talia.

Things were looking dire, and she felt an overwhelming fatigue come over her. As another of the basilisks' claws came towards her, she braced for impact, only for it not to make contact. She looked to see that Evin was making use of his more _practical_ fireworks, having launched one at the basilisk that was about to kill her.

"Who says humans can't do magic." he says to himself, setting up the launcher for another round.

He launched a green firework that left a stiff coating of waxy paint on the other basilisk's shoulder, making it harder to move. He rushes to Talia and gestures for her to follow him

"We can't run away." She argued.

"We'll die if we stay, trust me." He retorted.

They took refuge behind one of the destroyed buildings, and scanned the area. "Okay, so I've got three explosives, one ice, and one paint." Evin said, looking into his firework sack.

Talia felt the arrows in her quiver. "I've got no arrows left." Talia said downheartedly. "And who knows when my dad'll get here with others."

Things were looking bleak for our young heroes as they assessed the situation. The beasts were on a rampage, and if not stopped soon, they would destroy the entire city. When one of the beasts found them, they readied their weapons, completely prepared to give their lives.

Thankfully, that wouldn't be happening today.

"YAAAAAAHH!"

Talia and Evin heard a fierce battle cry pierce the air. Just as the basilisk was about to crush one the two youths, it reeled back in pain, and Evin and Talia see why. Finn had jumped onto its back, and was digging his red, demon's blood sword into the beasts shoulder. His clothes were torn, he had bruises and cuts all over him, and he was covered in bright pink basilisk blood. In spite of all that, the first thing Evin and Talia noticed was the frenzied look in Finn's eyes.

Talia had seen blood lust, but never to this degree. She'd never seen someone display so much anger, fear, nervousness, and sheer _excitement_ before in one expression. It was simultaneously terrifying and awe-inspiring at the same time.

Evin was shocked by something else entirely. As he watched Finn attack the beasts, he knew he'd seen this happening before.

The warrior fighting the evil beasts in his vision mirrored this to a tee. What this meant, he did not know, but he knew that whatever the outcome of this fight, it was going spark something the likes of which none had had seen before.

And he did so ever enjoy new things.

The beast thrashed and wriggled about, but Finn wasn't letting go anytime soon. He'd killed one of the evil monsters already, and wasn't going to let them harm good people. He would crawl along the beasts hide, and dig his sword into its flesh, making it scream in pain. He jumped off its back as its tail came down to crush him and landed painfully against a piece of rubble. Looking back at the beast as it regained its composure, Finn noticed that, though he had stabbed it plenty of times, it still stood as tall and menacing as it had in the forest. Not to mention there was still one more rampaging nearby.

"Finn!" he heard his name being called in a hushed tone. He looked to see Talia and Evin hiding behind a piece of destroyed building. He crawled over to them while the beast wasn't looking. "Hey guys. Guess the other basilisks made it to the city." he said, panting heavily.

Talia grabbed Finn's head, "What happened to you, you crazy kid!" she yelled in half-anger half-joy.

"Didn't you say there were three basilisks?" asked Evin. "Where's basilisk number three?"

Finn was breathing heavily, but still managed to speak. "Killed it… I think. It twitched a little after I cut its head off. That one was just a drone though, these are pack leaders." He said between breaths.

Talia and Evin's eyes widened in surprise. "You cut off a basilisks head?! Where did you learn to do that?!" she asked.

Finn could have told her something about reading it in a book, or that it was luck, but was too tired to process a complex lie to maintain discretion. "I'm not gonna lie to you guys. I'm not from this city. I'm from way outside, in Ooo. I didn't even know there were other humans until Rigid showed me this place. I fight monsters and go on adventures with a magic dog."

Talia and Evin's jaws hit the ground with enough force to cause visible cracks in the surface. They desperately waited for Finn to say something along the lines of 'haha, fooled ya' but something told them he was completely serious.

The looks on their faces made Finn want to laugh, and he would have if his chest didn't hurt so much. Talia looked like she was trying desperately not to explode with anger, and Evin looked excited, like he had enough questions to fill several books.

Through gritted teeth, Talia began to speak again. "Well, I guess we can discuss that little bit of news another time. For now, we gotta get the other people out of here; run to a safe place to hide."

At the mention of other people, Finn peeked over the demolished wall of the building they were in. There were still numerous humans cowering in their destroyed homes, fearful of being seen or heard, so they waited in the hopes that death's next unfortunate victim wouldn't be them. The sight greatly saddened Finn. He had always thought of his people great warriors, and though some were, to see so many of his kind cowering in fear, completely unwilling to defend themselves...

He had to do something about it.

"Sorry guys. But I don't do 'run and hide'." He said.

Finn Firmly grasped his sword in his hand, and jumped out into the open. Talia reached out to stop them, but Evin grabbed her shoulder.

"Wait. Let's see what he does." He said, speaking as if he knew something she didn't.

"Hey!" Finn shouted, catching the attention of the basilisks. "Come and get it." Finn shook his fanny at the beasts, proving to any watching that he truly wasn't afraid of dying an embarrassment.

The basilisks charged at the young man, beaks drooling, fangs flared. Finn ran between them faster for either one to react, and slashed at one's torso.

"Come on! I've fought lady vampires tougher than you!" he shouted. Despite the fact that it was true, he felt it was a worthy taunt. Displaying unreal athleticism, he jumped, ducked and dodged the beasts, slashing away at them whenever he could. He was sure to speak loudly and confidently, so that all in the vicinity could hear him. The display caught the attention of the other's hiding in the destroyed buildings.

"You over grown chickens couldn't hit me if you tried!" he taunted.

"What is that idiot doing?!" Talia said from behind the wall. "They're just getting angry."

"It's not the creatures' reactions he cares about." Evin said. He pointed to a group of people, once scared, now watching the battle intently.

Finn dug his sword just behind the jaw line of one of the creatures, where it was powerless to bit him!

"Humans!" he yelled. "We will not be pushed around by creatures like this! We are not weak! We do not have to fear the world outside our walls!" He jumped out of the way as the other basilisk attempted to bite him. "So fight! Fight to defend your homes! Fight to defend your loved ones! Fight because, well, because this is getting really hard!" he bellowed. He made another jump, but his fatigue had caught up to him, and he didn't jump out of the way in time, and as a result, was sent flying across the ground. He lifted his head up, looking at the creatures as they approached him. Finn stared intently at the creatures, showing them that he wasn't afraid. He was prepared for whatever they were about to do.

However, he didn't quite expect one of them to get struck in the eye with a splint of wood. The creatures turned to find other humans standing defiantly before them, brandishing any blunt or sharp objects they could find.

Finn smirked. He lost consciousness just as he saw the people; his people charge into battle.

_**An infant lies in his crib. The walls around him shake as he cries. He doesn't know what's happening. His mother and father look at him one last time. They speak to him, only for their words to be rendered as gibberish by undeveloped ears. Another figure stands over him, and the infant is suddenly surrounded by a field of red aura, before falling asleep.**_

"Ugh, what happened?" Finn asked. He awoke surrounded by walls of white stone, in a room full of books on bookshelves.

Rigid's library.

"Ah, you're awake." He hears the wizard speaking. He turns to see him in the corner, assembling books. "You gave everyone quite the scare you know."

"What happened?" asked Finn, still in a daze. He looked to see himself with significantly less bruising, and the blood was washed off his clothes.

"You know, I like to think the city is safe enough to wear I don't have to be constantly watching over it. Normally, that's been the case." He turns away from his books and gives Finn a deadpan expression. "But, it's not all the time I check on the city to find an entire city block having been destroyed, while two giant basilisks lay tied to the ground with their heads having been crudely cut off while humans stand around brandishing pieces of their destroyed homes like weapons."

"Yeah, well, things got kinda crazy." Finn said bashfully.

"I'll say. I understand Tali brought you and one of my students out into the forest?"

"You don't have to blame her. This was kind of all our faults."

"I don't believe in placing blame, Finn. It's the kind of fake indulgence that clouds judgment. I told her father I would work her to the bone, and that seemed a satisfying punishment in his eyes. As for Evin's parents, they're just glad he hasn't done wrong in school."

Rigid gestured for Finn to follow him. Finn did so, and found himself following Rigid to a part of the library he hadn't been to before.

"I do believe I told you I would give you a little more insight on what happened to humans. Would you still like to hear it?"

Finn couldn't nod fast enough. Rigid took a book from the shelf and dusted it off. "I don't want to bore you with the details, but I will tell you what you're going to need to know." He said.

"Need to know for what?" Finn asked.

"In due time." Rigid opened the book, only to pull out a key that had been hidden inside it. He drew his staff, and revealed a secret door behind the bricks of the wall. It was tall, and made of wood with a very large padlock. Using the key, Rigid opened the door, and led Finn down a long stairway.

"The era of the last great human kingdom ended somewhere between five and seven hundred years ago." Rigid said.

"Human kingdom?"

Ignoring Finn's words, Rigid continued. "It was amongst the noblest of kingdoms in all of Ooo, upholding the values of good over evil, and harnessed the spirit of righteousness, bestowed upon them by an ancient force of magic. However, during a conflict that would prove to be the last that the humans would face, they underwent a dark ritual. Though they had come out victorious in the end, nearly the entire kingdom had been sacrificed to protect that of others. It wasn't easy, but it had to be done. The true tragedy is the side effects of this ritual. The evil power that the humans faced did something to them; something that destroyed their spirit."

Rigid's voice grew uncharacteristically solemn. "Humans were cut off from the magical spectrum of the world. Those few who had survived the blight could no longer converse with the spirits of the veil, or interact with the magical beings that resided on the planet as well. They found themselves corrupted or mutated, or even falling to their savage instincts. With this curse placed on them, the era of the humans became lost in time, being slowly erased from the minds of those old enough to remember, and unheard of by the newer generation. Even I have only barely retained my memory of it through special magic." Rigid held his hand to his temple. "Yes it seemed humans were simply to remain one of the many great mysteries of this land." Rigid turned to Finn.

"Until I ran into you." He said, smiling.

Reaching the end of the stairway, Rigid brought Finn into a large room, where in the center lie a silver sword with a bronze hilt and a blue crystal at the base of the blade.

"Rigid, what's all this supposed to mean?" Finn asked.

"I had always hoped he had one last trick to pull. That he was one step ahead." Rigid said. "And I was right."

"Finn, you will undoubtedly find this difficult to believe, but you are more than just a human. You are their king."

Finn's face drooped. It was as if he thought this was all just a cruel joke.

"I understand your malice, but allow me to explain. During the last battle humanity had faced, the king at the time, Thaddeus Zhorne, aimed to sacrifice his kingdom, knowing it to be the only way to stop the evil they faced from taking the world entirely. Ever-honorable were many of these souls, who had chosen to stay as well, save for the few that fled with me at the time. Though I never knew for sure, I had always felt that he had done something, anything to ensure the survival of the kingdom. I held onto this hope for centuries, while humans were being forgotten by the rest of the world. Perhaps it was futile, but in the end it paid off. I should've seen it before, you're the spitting image of your father." He patted Finn's head. "Not to mention, you have his cowl." He added, tugging on the ears of Finn's hat.

"My hat?" Finn asked.

"I made that for him you know. He read about polar bears in one of my books. Decided they were his favorite animals. Cried for days when I told him they were extinct." Rigid spoke with fondness of his nostalgic memories.

"You're saying that my parents are from like, way long time ago.?!" Finn exclaimed. "How?"

"I don't know. Thaddeus was an odd person to read. He would read into odd magic to see what spells he could make, and yet was never a spell caster." Finn walked to the sword. "We'll know for sure if you can pull this." He pointed to the sword. "This was one of your father's swords. He had imbued it with an enchantment; only someone of his direct bloodline is able to pull it. I asked him why once; he said he read it in a book. I had always wondered what would happen should the right person pull it. After years of study, I think I've figured out why. And I believe that the 'right person', is you."

Finn's head was starting to hurt as he worked to process the information that was given to him. "I, I can't be a king, man. I did the whole king thing once, it's not for me." he argued.

"Finn, I won't ask you of something you can't handle. I'm just asking that you pull the sword. I will hold myself accountable for whatever happens."

Finn hesitated, but agreed. Slowly, he approached the sword cautiously, and grabbed the handle. He lifted the sword with a small amount of force, and as it came free, it was as if time slowed. Finn found himself empowered by an inexplicable vigor. An aura of energy was released from the hole where the sword was, and it traveled through the room, and out into the city. Though only moments had passed, to Finn it had seemed much longer. Finn stared at the sword as a shining aura engulfed it in awe. "Rigid, what's happening?" he asked.

Rigid places his hand on Finn's shoulder. "Come, let me show you." Rigid tapped his staff on the ground and flew upward, phasing through the ceiling of the room. They flew out of the ground and into the air. There seemed to be a commotion in the city, likely a reaction to the magic released by the sword. Most of the panic was coming from Rigid's school, where the students seemed distressed by something. Rigid and Finn landed near the school. The kids had a familiar wispy color to their eyes, and were running around, screaming about monsters.

"Kids! The visions you see are from the spirit realm! Remember your meditation practices; soon you'll be able to repress the visions!" Rigid announced. The kids all immediately closed their eyes and began meditating. People began to gather around the school with questions of what was happening.

"I'm sure you're all wondering what's happened. I would ask that you all gather outside of my library for a special announcement." He called before flying back to the library. He made announcements like this all across the city, telling all the denizens to head to the library. Yet, while Finn was present with Rigid on these flights, his mind was completely elsewhere. From the moment he picked up the sword, he'd felt something; this overwhelming, mysterious sense of self-awareness. For as long as Finn could remember, he'd felt somehow out of place in the world. Even after having found the city, he could never shake this feeling that there was something that set him apart from the world. But, ever since he picked up that sword, he'd felt something new. He'd felt this inexplicable connection to the city. After finally returning to the library, Finn needed to talk to Rigid about what he was feeling.

"Rigid, what exactly did this thing do?" he asked.

Rigid moved with haste as he prepared for the assembly of the humans. "Finn, by pulling that sword, you've saved humanity." He stated.

Finn was too confused and shocked to respond.

"I understand your confusion, allow me to explain. I placed an enchantment on that sword after I suspected that you were who I thought you were. You see, not only because you are a Zhorne, meaning that your connection to the magical spectrum of this world is more powerful than any other human, but you retain it, it was severed. I don't know how, but you're father must've done something to protect you from the ritual that cut humanity off from the magic of this world. By pulling the sword from the ritual room, you spread your spiritual essence to all humans, restoring their link across the entire planet. You have brought humanity out of centuries of fear and darkness." He slowly approached Finn and placed his hands on his shoulders. "And during this resurgence, they're going to need a leader." He said.

"I, I just don't." Finn wanted to say no, but felt some odd resistance to the idea.

"Finn, you've displayed nothing but willpower, good heartedness, and leadership skills the likes of which I've never seen since I met you. To lead theses people- you're people, is in your blood. If you truly do not believe you should lead them, I won't ask any further of you."

Finn thought about all he'd been through in the last few days and all Rigid had told him. He had found his people, found love, found new things in his life that had changed it so much. The more he thought about the good he'd done, the more he thought about the good he could do. He turned to Rigid. "I want to talk to them." He said.

Rigid gave Finn a megaphone, "They should be out there, now. Choose your words wisely." He advised.

Finn walked out of the library to find the hundreds of humans outside. He held the megaphone up to his mouth and began to speak. "Humans!" he called.

"Ummm, hi!"

Silence.

Finn thought hard, trying to process the right words. "I'm sure you've all noticed the big, flashy magic-y light." Finn breathed deeply, and just let the words come. "Humans, I want to say I am one of you. But, while I may be of your species, I hadn't known there were any other humans in the world besides me. I spent my life far from this city, enduring the many difficulties of the outside world, but also finding lots of great things!" this caused a few shocked gasps from the audience. "I was brought to the city by your leader, Rigid, and when I'd discovered that I was not the last of my kind, as you can imagine, I was pretty happy." Finn's voice took a more serious tone. "But, when I learned of how you lived, I was actually pretty upset!"

"To know that my people live in fear of the world beyond these walls, considered weak by others and by themselves, it was messed up!" Finn spoke louder.

"I am the son of the last great Human king, lost for centuries, returned to stand before you to tell you that the days of living in fear of the world are over! After centuries of being removed from the magic of this world; rejected and forgotten, I am here to say that those times are over!" people in the audience were speeking skeptically about this development amongst themselves.

"King's son?!" called one of the denizens.

"Yes!" called another voice. Rigid stood behind Finn, ready to support him. "I have confirmed it; this young man is your king!" he called. "Keep going, you're doing fine." He reassured Finn.

Finn nodded and continued. "This is a revival of our kind, to rise to its former glory! To come out from the darkness, and to stand once again, amongst the great kingdoms of Ooo; to defend the virtues of good as we had before!" much of the audience was murmuring in agreement over Finn's words. "And, if you will have me, I can lead you through this, as your king. But, it's your choice to make." Finn rested the megaphone and awaited the response.

Finn recognized the first to speak. "I will have you!" Talia shouted from the crowd.

"I will have you!" Followed Evin.

Cheers began coming from Henry and his warriors, then the humans Finn had rallied against the basilisks, and soon enough, cheers came from all humans.

Finn smiled brightly. "Rigid, there's something I have to do. I'll be back." He said, eyes tearing up.

"Take care of whatever you need to do. There's a lot to work to be done, and I'll help with anything you need." Finn took the teleportation talisman from his pack and ran into the library. There was something important he needed to do.

Jake had returned home late. Date night with Lady had gone _very well_, but he was getting tired and knew Finn would worry if he didn't get home. However, when finding Finn, he didn't find him asleep in his bed, but rather, standing with a packed traveling bag.

"Hey Jake." He said.

"Hey Finn, what's with the bag?" Jake asked.

"Jake, this isn't easy."

"What isn't easy?"

"I'm leaving. I won't be living at the tree house anymore."

Jake looked at Finn incredulously. "Finn, what're you going on about, man?" he asked.

"I'm serious Jake."

Jake frowned. He didn't look angry or upset, but rather like he was awaiting an explanation.

"There's something I gotta do, man. I can't talk about it, but it's something really important to me, and I have to go somewhere else to do it."

Jake still wasn't responding.

"This isn't anyone's fault, nothing bad happened or anything, I just have something I need to do. This isn't easy man." Finn said, getting frustrated with Jake's silence. "Will you talk to me?!"

Finn could see tears welling up in Jake's eyes, but he was still smiling. "It's cool, man." Jake said.

"Wh-what?"

Jake walked up to Finn and hugged him. "Dude, you're your own man. You've done a lot of growing up, and you're allowed to make your own decisions. I'll miss you, pal, but I can't keep you here forever."

Finn started to shed tears of his own. "Thanks Jake. I love you, bro."

"Love you too, man."

Finn left the tree house and ran into the woods, and Jake watched him with tears in his eyes.


	12. Epilogue

Epilogue

Jake and Saffron sat in the tree house sipping tea. Three months had passed since Finn's departure, and Jake and Saffron had made a ritual of meeting up at least once a week to catch up.

"You've really gotten good at controlling your power, princess." Jake remarks to the fiery young lady.

The Flame Princess nods, "Yeah, Manish Man's been helping me practice. I don't flare up as often, and I can even make fire that doesn't burn." She made a small dancing flame-doll on the wooden table that didn't leave so much as a hint of a scorch mark.

"Hehe, neat. Say, how're things with Finn?" Jake asks.

Saffron blushes slightly. "Good. Very good."

"He doesn't visit me as much as he used to, y'know? I think the last time I saw him was almost two weeks ago." Jake said.

"I'm sorry about that. He visits me at least once a week. We talk for a few hours, and do _other stuff_"" Saffron replied bashfully, a bright blush on her face.

Jake recoiled at her remark. "Whoa, princess, I don't need to be hearing about what you and Finn do when you're alone." He said. His face took a more quizzical look, "Say, does he ever talk about that big important thing he said he had to do?"

Saffron frowned, "I wish. I've asked about it, but he always just says that it's going well, and never gives me any details. I'd ask more, but I don't want to pry."

"Yeah, same here." Jake said sadly. "But, I think it might have something to do with this." He said, stretching to get the news paper from the front of the door. He placed the news paper on the table and opened it to the front page. "See?"

Saffron checked out the front page. The headline said: Local Mysteries: The Feral King. "Oh yeah, I heard about him. He and some other people have been going after the biggest bounties in Ooo, and a few other territories. I also hear he's saved a few cities that get under attacked. You think Finn might be involved?" she asked.

"Maybe. It's pretty coincidental that he started popping up a month after Finn left." Jake reasoned. "Well, whatever's up with Finn, I'm sure he'll tell us when he's re-" Jake was interrupted by the phone ringing. Stretching an arm, he grabbed the phone and answered it. "Hello?" his ear was assaulted with panicked ramblings of a certain pink princess.

Jake hung up the phone urgently and got up from the table. "Candy Kingdom's being attacked by bouldermen!" he shouted. "Come on, we gotta help!" Jake said before rushing out of the house.

Saffron was mildly reluctant to help that prissy pink lady, but she supposed Finn's goodness had rubbed off on her, as she felt obligated to save her anyway. She flew out of the tree house in pursuit of Jake.

Princess Bugglegum had gotten off the phone and turned to see the many stone bouldermen attacking her kingdom. Her candy guards hat put up a fight, but were overwhelmed by the rock-like creatures. She was stricken with relief to see Jake heading toward her kingdom, but noticed that Finn didn't accompany him. While Saffron was fighting the bouldermen on the ground, Jake entered the kingdom and started attacking the bouldermen that were climbing the princess' tower. "Hey PB, what's the situation?" he asked.

"The bouldermen started attacking not too long ago. My rock candy guards held them off long enough for my people to take refuge in the catacombs, but they couldn't defeat them. Where is Finn? He should be here helping." Replied the princess

Jake blushed slightly. He had completely forgotten to tell PB that Finn wasn't living with him any longer. "Uhh, he left, a few months ago. I had a feeling I'd forgotten to do something." Jake said.

He quickly leapt off the building before The Princess had time to scold him. "Finn left!?" she said to herself in anger. "Ugh, nobody tells me anything!"

Meanwhile on the ground, Jake and Saffron continued to fight the bouldermen. Saffron engulfed each of them in fire, but they didn't seem to mind the pain, if they felt any at all. And while Jake, could punch them, they were extremely heavy, too heavy to pick up or throw. "Man, Finn was always better at fighting guys like these!" he remarked in anger.

"I can't burn them! They're too thick!" Saffron said in frustration. "We're gonna need a miracle."

She was right, they would need a miracle. And said miracle came in the shape of an arrow piecing the one of the bouldermen. And another and another.

From each hole made, blue aura leaked, and the bouldermen that were struck found themselves frozen from the inside out.

Jake looked into the distance to see a hooded figure with a heavy cross bow, giving a signal with her hand. As soon as the signal was made, five more figures leapt over the wall of the candy kingdom. Each figure was wearing a hood and cloak, except for one, whose face was covered by a glistening silver helmet that was shaped like a bear's head. The helmed ran alongside a larger one brandishing a heavy axe, and the two of them drew the attention of the bouldermen, while the first archer was joined by another, and two mages began banishing the frozen bouldermen. Like a well oiled machine, the leader and the large one kept the attention of dozens of bouldermen on them, while the archers and mages took them out from a far. If this wasn't astounding enough, they were taken for a particular turn when they saw the leader get cornered. Eight of the stone giants surrounded him, and just as he looked as though he was done for, he drew two swords from behind him. One was silver with a bronze hilt and a blue jewel, and the other was a very familiar blood red with a cross-like hilt.

PB, Saffron, and Jake would recognize that sword anywhere.

The leader, with unparalleled grace, avoided every punch thrown at him, and slashed through the thick rock plating of the bouldermen. One by one, the bouldermen were frozen and banished, until there were no more. In the end, the mysterious heroes stood triumphant.

As things wound down, Saffron, Jake, and now Princess Bubblegum, who had come down from her tower, looked at the leader with curiosity and astonishment.

"… Finn?" asked Saffron.

The leader gestured for the others to leave without him. As his teammates left the kingdom, he approached the others, and his silver helmet transformed into a white hood with two small ears protruding from the top.

"Hey guys."


End file.
